Why You Should Never Challenge The Unova League
by AuraChannelerChris
Summary: Ch. 3: The Third Member. Red and his team reaches Striaton City to challenge the Striaton Triplets. Unfortunately, they arrive just in time to see a sibling feud between Chili and Cress shatter their sibling bond rather quickly...
1. Prologue of Introductions

_Welcome to a future project of mine that will start production once "The Bond of Aura" finishes its run. This "spin-off" of sorts ties with "The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest", but it's not ALL that tied up in canon terms to make this really look like a true Pokémon fic._

_Of course, there's a twist that will just beg to ramp up the humor…_

_I encourage all potential readers to read on, enjoy, and review._

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**~ Why You Should Never Challenge The Unova League ~**

**Prologue of Introductions**

**Pokémon Trainer Red – An inspiring 11 year-old who has already beaten the Kanto League, thus becoming its champion. Although very young, Red is quite an accomplished and mature trainer who knows his stuff. He took part in a huge universal war against a very dangerous group called "The Subspace Army" with Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard, saving many universes from being consumed by Subspace Bombs by working alongside a huge ragtag bunch of misfits that surprisingly work well together. From there, Red uses his knowledge of battle to completely obliterate his opponents. He hasn't experienced a loss at all due to this. He wishes to take on the Unova League while also catching more Pokémon to aid him in the long run.**

**Squirtle – Red's first Pokémon who fervently refuses to evolve, yet can defeat huge Fire-type opponents several times his little size. He's very supportive to Red, and he likes hanging out with his other Pokémon. A good friend all in all.**

**Ivysaur – Red's second Pokémon who has quite an adoration to Legendary Pokémon, especially the ones that are Grass-types. He's always seen with Squirtle and Charizard whenever Red is busy doing other things. He cannot stand the types he's weak against.**

**Charizard – Red's third Pokémon who formerly liked to make his life a real pain in the butt. After being caught, Charizard went through a lot of hardships until he recognized Red as a good trainer. From Red's main trio, Charizard is the absolute powerhouse, and he's also cocky to a fault. Has a huge phobia with water that causes hilarity within the group.**

**Ash's Pikachu – THE Pikachu from the anime. He's tagging along with Red just to see how different the game Unova is from the anime Unova, even though he never got to step in the latter. Unlike other young Pokémon, Pikachu is very knowledgeable about so many topics one would think he's a Raichu trapped in a small body. To avoid Ash from ever noticing his absence, Pikachu has an "identical cousin" take his place while he's off participating in Smash Bros. tourneys. He's got a creepy obsession with ketchup bottles and is very genre savvy about pretty much everything there is to know.**

**The Wandering Jigglypuff – The very same Jigglypuff that pestered Ash's group is actually the very same Jigglypuff that appears in Smash Bros. tourneys. Thinking of herself as a singing diva, she likes to sing, and her lucky admirers always end up dozing off for…obvious reasons. Very feisty and energetic, she always wants to be the center of attention in hopes to gain herself a few more fans.**

**Pichu – A wild Pichu that is never seen alone without Pikachu. Although young, Pichu can show some surprising instances of maturity, but that doesn't stop him from goofing around and having fun with others, acting childish at times. Despite his size, he can actually put up a good fight, resisting his own electric attacks for dear life. Wishes to be like Pikachu one day.**

**Pokémon Trainer Chris Gutierrez Soto – The 19 year-old World Traveler who was destined by fate to cross over from the real world to save the gaming worlds along with the elite group known as "Smashers" from the Subspace Army. Unlike many headstrong protagonists, Chris is the timid "bookwork" type, completely averting any unfortunate deeds his actions might lead to. He has a wide range of "Jobs" that allow him to fight in any kind of situation, but he doesn't find the need to do so in Unova. Along with his rather big entourage of Pokémon (which are eight walking Pokémon instead of six), he's only traveling with Red to get to know the new region by inspecting every nook and cranny without necessarily challenging the league at all due to how insanely powerful his team is…because of his main Pokémon, which earned him the title of champion in the Sinnoh region. Likes making friends with people that don't get on his nerves. As a side note, he has completely lost hope in the Pokémon anime that he has stopped watching it altogether, but this ISN'T something he should concern about…right?**

**Lucario – A very, VERY unusual Lucario. This calm and collected Lucario is not like the others. He's a 6'07" tall Pokémon with the power to demolish an entire mountain with a single, focused punch of his mighty fists. He is known as the Legendary Lucario from the Valley of the Aura, following a lineage of prestigious Lucario known to have supernatural powers that exceed any other Pokémon known to humanity, easily reaching the status of a Legendary Pokémon. With his terrorizing Herculean strength and extremely developed aura skill that can track down other auras within a hundred miles, almost no Pokémon can beat him in battle. Despite all this, he's highly protective of Chris, and he's not much of a lone wolf. Likes being groomed by people with good auras, especially his trainer. Among the team, he's an excellent sparring partner.**

**Snivy – Chris's very stoic female Pokémon of the team who likes bending others to her will…or so she used to until she saw the potential in her trainer. Once a wandering wild Pokémon who was bored out of her mind with her life and tried to find something different for once, she one day arrived at the Smash Mansion and made her way to the teen's room where she was received with open arms, much to her surprise. Highly mature, Snivy is quite sneaky, and the training given to her by Chris has turned her into a deadly foe that leaves her foes dazzled and their dignity shattered to pieces.**

**Oshawott – A little youngster who is a force to be reckoned with despite his small size. Oshawott is energetic, and he greatly looks forward to the day he evolves into a "badass Dewott". He's currently the most active Pokémon of Chris's team that does battle a lot more than the others. No matter what he does to distract himself from Oshawott's happy mood, Chris is putting a lot of effort to help Oshawott achieve his dream. He's nice friends with Snivy and Emolga more than the other evolved Pokémon.**

**Arcanine – A huge Fire-type Pokémon who absolutely enjoys having fun with his dear trainer. Very energetic and very strong, Arcanine hasn't quite matured from the Growlithe he used to be, possibly because Chris prematurely used a Fire Stone ahead of time. His hyper activeness leads him to have some unhealthy dog-like obsessions that greatly embarrass the others. Still, Chris loves his big fire puppy a lot.**

**Mightyena – A very snarky Mightyena who does have a heart. Once a Poochyena that didn't have much self-confidence, Chris raised him properly, accidentally giving the shy Poochyena a big ego in the end. Despite this fact, Mightyena is a cool Pokémon who does not like the idea of his trainer being harassed by others, shooting them with fierce glares (and directly using Intimidate) whenever possible to feel satisfied with himself. Biting people's butts is a huge plus in his book.**

**Luxray – Like Lucario, a very protective Pokémon. He is perhaps the second strongest Pokémon of the team. Due to his protective nature, he became best friends with Lucario, and the two work together in Double Battles the most. Although intimidating, Luxray has been taught to make friends with others. He is quite proud of the "young adult" he has become from the little Shinx he used to be, and he is forever grateful to his trainer.**

**Emolga – Chris's second hyperactive Pokémon of the lot who likes hanging out on top of people's heads. She's very curious to a fault, which leads Chris to become extremely concerned of her actions. In truth, Emolga is quite a prankster, and she loves making her trainer lose his calm self just seeing her do crazy stuff. Luckily, the other Pokémon do their best to stop her…which further fuels her happy fun time. However, Emolga uses this very nature to her advantage in battle, loving to see people's exasperated expressions whenever she does something unusual. Chris really doesn't mind that about her.**

**Swampert – By no means a joke when he was a Mudkip, Swampert is a very special case in Chris's team. He provides his trainer with a lot of fun in the water and is good friends with Squirtle. Although big in size, Swampert is a big softie who is reduced to tears to the simplest of sad tales…which in turn makes Chris look his way, as he is just as emotional. In battle, Swampert likes terrorizing his foes with his Ground-type moves, especially the dreaded Earthquake. Little does he know that this particular move should never be present in Unova, or anywhere else in the Pokémon world, for a good reason…**

**Striaton Gym Leader Cress – One of the Striaton Triplets. Cress is a Water-type Gym Leader of sorts, forming up the Grass and Fire triangle with his fellow brothers. Unfortunately, he is the only one who is currently running the Striaton Gym alone due to his brothers Cilan and Chili being on their own personal journeys. Having been defeated by Red without much trouble, Cress decides to tag along with the big group, wanting to know more about their personal lives. In exchange, he provides them with masterful cooking skills along with Panpour. The triplets have an insane entourage of fangirls.**

**Panpour – Cress's only Pokémon. He's pretty peppy and likes mimicking his trainer's actions a lot. It is beyond the others how this monkey can see with his eyes shut, but luckily he never sees evil with them, only a group of funny people and their walking Pokémon roaming the streets.**

**THE GROUP AS A WHOLE – Badass Crew.**

…

**(True) THE GROUP AS A WHOLE – A bunch of people from other regions (except the native ones from Unova) that are on an adventure to follow Red's challenge of the Unova League to become the champion. Every Pokémon except Cress's has been taught how to talk human language, enabling them to communicate with each other flawlessly.**

**...**

**THE TWIST – Neither Chris, Red, or their Pokémon really know that they had accidentally entered the **_**anime **_**Unova and NOT the **_**game **_**Unova until too late to go back on their word. They will find out firsthand that the overall IQ quotient between the two versions of the same region leaves a plain-down nasty canyon of emptiness on the spot anime Unova is…and that Red isn't exactly challenging the Elite Four of the region at all but rather a bunch of WEIRD Pokémon and their even WEIRDER and CRAZIER trainers… Pikachu is going to scream at the end for sure, and Chris's grip on reality will go down the toilet.**

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_There you have it. Until I start writing chapters for this…interesting twist of events, keep reading these descriptions over and over till the very first chapter is published in the future._

_BTW, no matter how you look at it, Chris isn't meant to be a Gary Sue despite the implications the descriptions tell about his Pokémon team. They're just there to add more humor to the history, all the while giving Red the support he needs to finish this weird Unova League. That doesn't mean they're getting scoff free from experience the weirdness that will ensue…_

_Just so you know. Red is getting more Pokémon. So, you see, the cast is almost entirely made up of talking Pokémon taking the spotlight more than the trainers._


	2. New Region, New Challenge

_I know I said that I'd start this fic once I finished "The Bond of Aura", but I got…a little too anxious, so I went ahead and wrote the first chapter of this spin-off. Who knows when I'll be writing the next chapter. TBoA takes more priority after this chapter goes live._

_Now, there are a few points I need to address before you continue:_

_1 – This is a spin-off of "The Subspace Emissary's Worlds Conquest". It is NOT entirely canon of the real thing, but it uses known characters with their known personalities. Beyond that, this journey never happened in my main storyline. However, only a few points of this story allude to it. Have some fun trying to make connections. I might just try to sneak in future references that will tie to the main fic._

_Those of you who are fresh to this, don't concern yourselves about reading my main fic in the Super Smash Bros. section to understand this one. Slowly but surely, the characters depicted here will show their personalities so you don't have to backtrack. The prologue gives a rough draft about them all, anyway._

_2 – Since I'm taking a huge risk here to represent the anime, not everything shown here will follow it step by step. This means that I won't go through the trouble of seeing what stupid random anime town is between two important cities. Oh no, we're seeing the major places. Screw Nimbasa Town._

_3 – This story is mostly entirely focused on comedy to make fun of everything the anime does wrong in video game logic. It won't take itself seriously many, many times (I think). So, don't go thinking the Lucario of this story is a Gary Stu because he can totally nuke the Unova region._

_Those are the three main points you need to have in mind. With that out of the way, I encourage all Sinnoh saga supporters to read on, enjoy, and review._

_**Disclaimer: If only NA could produce a serious Pokémon brand…**_

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**Chapter 1: New Region, New Challenge**

-Nuvema Town-

Back Alley

The peaceful town of Nuvema had a nice morning light shining down on its suburbs. As people went on with their lives and everyday activities, nobody dared see that their world was going to be visited by otherworldly people who shared a few things in common with them all. Simply put, nobody looked into a solitary alley where a vortex opened up.

The vortex widened enough for anybody to step in and out, the latter option which was done just as soon as people started walking out and stretching their bodies due to the fact they all had woken up just recently to start their long journey around the Unova region. As each one of the people made it out the vortex, the portal shrunk into a small dot until it fully vanished.

The group of people was led by two young Pokémon Trainers and a large entourage of Pokémon following them. One of them was an eleven-year old who took the role as the leader. He was known as Red (a name many of them thought was really unfortunate) from Pallet Town. He was the one who had suggested them to participate in the Unova League to challenge the Elite Four and eventually the Champion of the region. Red had a very sloppy start back at his region, but constant battles and new experiences toughened him up to the point he overthrew the Kanto League (and his obnoxious rival Gary) with ease.

Truth to be told, Red took a break from traveling his own region midway. It turned out that, after catching his second Pokémon, he became interested in helping out a rather odd group of people called "Smashers" from an entirely separate universe. Still being fresh to the idea of being a Pokémon Trainer, let alone a universal fighter, Red slowly got the reigns of being a trainer until he went back to his region and claimed the title of Champion. He was still busy fighting the enemies of the group he joined even today, but his boss – a disembodied giant glove named Master Hand – allowed him to participate in the Unova League only because he saw it as an opportunity to train their Pokémon branch. Seeing as the Subspace Army – their common enemy – wasn't moving at all for weeks, they decided to explore the region after finding out that there was a fifth generation.

The group of Pokémon was consisted of three factions in all. There was Red's faction: a nice Squirtle that he chose as his first Pokémon from Professor Oak, an Ivysaur with a fascination over Grass-type Legendaries and a strong crush over a certain fellow Grass-type that he had caught at Viridian Forest, and his powerhouse Charizard who he had caught much, much later down the timeline. Red had a lot more Pokémon caught, but he had a stronger bond with these three more than the others. Luckily, his reserves were never stored into Poké Balls as they were all roaming the fields on the backside of Oak's lab.

The second faction was led by a young eighteen-year old by the name of Chris. This calm and friendly teen was convinced by Red to join his journey through the Unova region, which Chris decided to do so because it would be a nice change of pace for once, as some of his Pokémon came from the region.

The two trainers were just as experienced in Pokémon Battles. Surprisingly, Chris was not from a Pokémon region. He was actually a person who came from the real world after destiny (so cruelly) dragged him into the Subspace Army's conflict as one last ditch attempt to aid the Smashers. Even then, Chris disliked fighting on his own. With all the knowledge through experience, both Red and Chris became veteran trainers. So casually, Chris beat the Sinnoh League without much trouble (until he met Cynthia's terrifying Garchomp) due to one simple reason: the Lucario he had was a total game breaker in the flesh because he was a part of a prestige lineage of Lucario from the Valley of the Aura. This barely implied that his 6'07 tall Lucario was perhaps just as strong as a Legendary Pokémon, if not possibly even stronger. In a few words, a fist coming from him meant certain death and destruction to any unlucky opponent unless he faked being a nuke.

Chris's faction was spearheaded by his aforementioned Lucario and seven other Pokémon that Chris never dared keep inside their Poké Balls because he abhorred not being with one of them. He had a semi-manipulative female Snivy, a very upbeat Oshawott, an extremely hyperactive Emolga, a snarky Mightyena, a tough-as-nails Luxray, a rather energetic Arcanine, and a Swampert who was a big softie who would cry at the drop of a hat.

Then there was the third faction, leaded by a peculiar Pikachu. This Pikachu wasn't just any Pikachu. He was the very same Pikachu who was under Pokémon Trainer Ash's ownership. However, his trainer was not around. Pikachu happened to have an identical cousin who was currently taking his place to let him participate in the Smash Tourney (Pikachu having participated in the previous two tourneys before the Brawl came about). After Pikachu soon learned that he came from "an anime", his curiosity eventually took him to investigate more about how his world worked. Ultimately, he became very genre savvy to the point he could be mistaken as a veteran trainer who could predict with extreme accuracy what would happen next down the road.

Pikachu led a rather small team. Accompanying him was a Jigglypuff that turned out to be the same one that had pestered Ash's group a long time ago. Next to Jigglypuff was an energetic Pichu whom Pikachu met at the Melee tourney. Jigglypuff had heard that there was some sort of Pokémon Musical in Unova, which immediately made her scream with glee for a chance to sing on the stage. As for Pichu, he wanted to experience what a Pokémon journey was.

Curiously enough, all the Pokémon knew how to talk English thanks to their trainers wondering at first if it was possible for them to learn how to do it. After some serious learning lessons, they found out through their first test subject, Snivy, that it was really possible to teach them human language. This helped them a lot to communicate perfectly with each other. Lucario, Pikachu, Pichu, Jigglypuff, Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard already knew how to talk from the beginning.

"And welcome, everyone, to the Unova region," Red said as he stepped forward to turn around and look at his intrepid group of fourteen misfits.

Snivy shuddered as she stared at the trash cans. "Couldn't we have appeared behind a tree?" she asked. "Alleys are like houses for Poison-types, and you all know how much I hate them."

Ivysaur glared up at Red. "You better make sure we don't appear in another alley again!" he said. "Yeah, I'm also a Poison-type, but I can't see her so flustered!" Snivy eyed him and sighed.

"I-if anybody's to blame, that's Chris!" Red said, startling the teen. "You're the one in charge of using that controller to open doors to other worlds!"

"I-I think it really is my fault," Chris meekly muttered. "Sorry…"

"…Oh well," Snivy said frowning. "I can let this one go for once… Besides…" She smiled and walked forward. "We're in my home region. Maybe I can get to see my parents again."

"This is my home region, too!" exclaimed a happy Oshawott. He took a deep breath, only for him to gag because he was standing next to a trash can. "A-ack! Should've done that outside this alley…"

"Can we just get out from this alley?" Mightyena asked. "I know I'm the shady type, but this is ridiculous."

Red grimaced as he stared at his group. "Well, first off, we need to check the restrictions we agreed to do," he said, raising a finger. "Remember?"

Squirtle nodded. "No talking human language around others because it might freak them out," he said.

"And in the worst of cases," Lucario continued, "we could have people tailing us for it."

"Which means we've got to talk to each other using our own language when we're close to somebody else who isn't us," Luxray said. "It's a drag, but it can't be helped." He looked behind his back to see Emolga sitting on him. "Are we clear on that, you?"

Emolga giggled until she looked depressed once Chris gave her a concerned look. "I know," she said. "I'm not going to do a prank by talking…" She snickered mentally, thinking about the possibilities without truly breaking the rule.

Pikachu nodded. "We don't want the crazies to follow us everywhere," he said. "Let's just talk with each other when we're sure there's nobody around. Lucario here can use his crazy aura skill to alert us if anybody's coming our way."

Lucario looked down annoyed at the small Pokémon. "I know I can detect auras within a hundred miles, but please, don't call it crazy," he said.

Red raised a second finger. "Rule number two. Whatever happens, don't get separated," he said. "Chris and I don't like having any of you guys in your Poké Balls all the time. You're all free to go anywhere as long as we can see you."

"You're saying that because there's the obligatory evil team causing chaos across the region," Pikachu said. "We can handle 'em just fine, but then you made another rule…"

"Rule number three!" Arcanine piped up, startling some of them. "Avoid making a scene while in public because we'd get in deep trouble getting too much attention!"

Red nodded. "Those are all the rules. As long we follow them, we'll have an enjoyable time as I make my way to the Unova League," he said.

Charizard grinned. "Where we'll curb-stomp the Elite Four and the Champion to claim the title," he said, the flame on his tail burning up a little more.

Chris looked pleased. "I can't wait to see the sights myself," he said. "I don't want to take part of the challenge this time. I do want to let my team experience what a true journey is by traveling by foot."

Swampert looked at him. "Yeah, our Sinnoh League challenge was plain cheating," he said. "Hopping from city to city using your controller…"

"Training at the mansion all the time…" Luxray added.

"Using Lucario to get rid of the strongest opponents…" Snivy said, eyeing the tall Pokémon. He looked away.

"In the end, victory was boring," said Oshawott, frowning at the boring victory. "I'm the proof! I never got to evolve to Dewott…"

Their trainer closed his eyes in defeat. "I know…" he muttered in shame before brightening up. "But this time, let's do it right while we don't have work to do to fight the army. Master Hand needs Red, the tourney's Pokémon, and me to do his dirty work…"

"We're not even taking a part in this league OR your fights with that army!" Mightyena pointed out. "We're just taking a vacation."

"I-I'll try to sneak in some battles during the journey," Chris said embarrassed. "Is that good enough for everybody?"

Mightyena snickered. "Sure, as long as you don't put Mr. Aura Nuke in the field," he said.

Lucario looked at no one in particular with a bored expression. "I'm never going to stop getting nicknames, do I," he asked dully.

Jigglypuff sighed with pleasure. "I want to find that Pokémon Musical place soon," she said, getting everyone's attention. "Imagine it! A musical! It's like, the perfect place for me after Pokémon Contests!"

"Too bad we don't know where it is exactly," Squirtle said. "It could be in a city with a Gym Leader…"

She pouted. "We're finding that city, then," she said. "There's no way I'm missing the chance of participating in a musical."

"Don't you need a trainer for that?" Pikachu asked as a matter-of-fact.

The Singing Pokémon looked deviously at Red and Chris. The two exchanged nervous glances. "Pass," Red said quickly.

Jiggypuff stared at a distraught Chris. "Looks like you're mine again! You're so lucky!" she said laughing. "I like making you do what I want to do!"

"Oh, here we go again," Chris muttered. "First it was the contests, now it's a musical. I sure hope I don't have to make the others participate…" At this, his team of Pokémon widened their eyes and groaned aloud as Jigglypuff giggled.

"I suddenly miss not fighting Gym Leaders for _some _reason," Snivy muttered under her breath.

Pikachu chuckled and crossed his arms. "Can't wait to see how this journey develops," he said. "We're not in my anime world. I get to do a lot more stuff than before! This is truly gonna be an epic journey done right."

Swampert looked down at him. "What do you mean by an epic journey done right?" he asked.

Pikachu looked at Red and Chris. "These two over here have brains," he said. "They know their stuff. They don't put themselves in a disadvantage. They go straight for the kills while having an unscathed team by the end of the battle." He sighed. "It's people like them that makes me wish Ash was just as smart. He should be a veteran by now, but… Well, I'm lying here. Ash is kind of a veteran. If he were in anime Unova, I bet my tail he'd be back at newbie level…" He looked proud. "But I did defeat a guy who randomly owned Legendary Pokémon. Freaking Latios, everyone, and let's not mention Suicune and Moltres! THAT was a close one."

Chris smiled. "Thanks to you, he did manage to win the Sinnoh League," he said. "You seriously deserved that."

"I know!" Pikachu nodded. "I was lucky I got some serious training fighting the Subspace Army. After years of frustrating struggles, he got to own a real trophy! But now, it's time for me to bask in my glory and take a vacation with you," he said. "Let me watch a true journey, and see Red killing everybody in sight!"

Red shrugged. "Geez, don't put it like that," he said. "But thanks for the cheers…I guess."

"Let's move!" Arcanine suggested. "I'm really excited! Where do we need to go first?"

The leader trainer rubbed his chin. "Out of this alley into the open," he said. "After that, I need to find this region's professor to get me registered for the league. Hopefully, I'll get a new Pokémon out of the professor."

"And after that," Charizard said, "it'll be my time to burn Gym buildings."

"Yes, yes, you crazy arsonist," Red said bored. "We need to do a looooooooooot of walking, though."

Chris sheepishly said, "We could always use my cont-"

"NO!" the others quickly said. The teen sighed before they moved out from the alley into the streets.

Prof. Juniper's Lab

The large group had to deal with a lot of repercussions as they asked where the lab was. Due to the fact they had all their Pokémon out in the open, many trainers who were probably starting their journeys were absolutely scared of the terrifying-looking Pokémon walking through the town. The ones that nearly tried to ask them out for a battle yelped once the likes of Lucario eyed them.

"I'm starting to regret having our big guys out," Pikachu said. "We're the living nightmare of everybody in town."

Arcanine smiled. "Come on," he said, having all the small Pokémon riding on his back. "That trainer back there wasn't scared of me."

"You damn chased that one around, you big dog!" Mightyena scolded. "He wasn't playing! He was _running _away from you!"

"Really?" Arcanine asked, looking depressed. "Aww, and he was a good runner…"

Chris sighed. To tell the truth, he had a good chance of raising Arcanine properly when he was a Growlithe. "Red, you're to blame here." Red looked guilty at him. "If you didn't get to drop that Fire Stone on my Growlithe, I would've had the chance of raising him properly! And I just got him two days before you caused the accident!"

"I-I'll try to find a way to compensate for that," Red said.

"He can't learn any new moves!" Chris pointed out. "Pokémon that evolve through stones stop learning moves! He's stuck with Ember!"

"I'll try looking around for a Flamethrower," Red said. "Will…that be enough?"

"I'll tell you once you find more TMs."

"Oh boy…" Red muttered before turning his head to look at the lab's entrance. "Oh, look! There's the lab."

"That's nice but I won't forget."

"Crud."

The building was small and simple. The front entrance had multiple glass walls with automatic glass doors in the middle. There didn't seem to be anybody inside, but the group knew there was somebody since the doors opened for them. Slowly filling the entrance, they looked around to find the professor. "Hello?" Chris called out. "Hello! Is there somebody here?"

"I'll be right there!" a womanly voice came from down the hallway right directly in front of the entrance. From one of the doors they saw beyond the entrance, a professor stepped out, wearing a warm smile on her face. The professor saw her visitors and chuckled as she approached them. "Welcome to my lab. My name is Professor Juniper. How can I help you two?"

Red smiled and walked forward. "It's only me," he said. "My name's Red and this is Chris. We're here to get me started to challenge the Unova League."

"Oh, I see!" she said. "For a moment, I thought there were going to be two new trainers. Alright, Red," she began, "let's get your registration done before I give you your Pokédex and your starter Pokémon."

"Sweet," Red exclaimed before taking out his Pokédex. "Actually, I have my own Pokédex from Unova. I got it from some friends."

"That's nice! It'll make registration a lot faster," Juniper said as she took the machine, going over to a desk with a computer where she sat down on a chair and inserted the data log into it. As she typed the information into the screen, she looked over at them. "Are you new to Unova?" she asked.

"Yes," Red said. "I come from Pallet Town in the Kanto region, and Chris comes…from Twinleaf Town in the Sinnoh region," he lied about the last part to avoid making a scene. Chris was indirectly reminded to keep his real hometown a secret.

"Hmm, Pallet Town…" Juniper wondered.

"Hm?"

"Oh, I was just recalling someone else," she said, her eyes fixed on the screen. "There just so happens to be another trainer from the Kanto region who's taking on the Unova League challenge as well. Maybe you'll meet that one down the road."

The trainer got into deep thought. "(Could it be?)" Red thought. "(Is…Green here too? That's some coincidence…but…is she really here?)"

"There," Juniper said, taking the data log out from the computer and handing it back to Red. "You're now registered for the league. Before you leave, would you like to choose a starter Pokémon?" she asked before eyeing the Pokémon brigade. "You've got a lot of Pokémon following you…"

"I-I'm guilty," Chris said. "The only ones that aren't mine are the ones that aren't from Kanto except for Arcanine."

"…But…" she looked confused, "you have eight Pokémon out…"

"I…don't catch that many Pokémon," Chris struggled to say. "I dislike keeping them all in their Poké Balls. This isn't cheating, is it? I just love spending my time with them whenever I can."

"Oh, it's okay," Juniper said, forcing a smile. "It's just unheard of to see a trainer with all their Pokémon out like that, not to mention you have over six Pokémon. That'd mean you have eight Poké Balls, which shouldn't really work because the limit is six."

"I found a loophole I could abuse," Chris said. "Basically, I have five Poké Balls with me, but the extra three Pokémon, Snivy, Oshawott, and Emolga, don't have theirs. That way, I get to have everyone out while also having the possibility of catching something else I might like."

"…Ha ha ha!" Juniper laughed amused. "I never thought somebody would do that! That's impressive, I give you that." She stood up from her chair and walked to the hallway where she entered another room. "I'll be back with your three choices, Red," she said.

Once she was gone from hearing range, Red turned to the others. "How exciting," he said. "This is a region with a ton more new Pokémon. No old Pokémon, just new! It really does feel like a brand new beginning to me."

Pikachu shrugged. "And you're doing it right," he commented. "You have some powerhouses ready if the going gets rough."

"Pu-shaw," Charizard said, waving a claw. "We got the league in the bag."

"You're awfully confident for my tastes," Luxray said with a dull look.

Charizard glared at him. "Hey, you! I know for a fact the first Gym Leaders aren't going to be that strong!" he pointed out. "I just need to sneeze to make them keel over!"

"If you sneeze with fire, then yes, you might just knock them down," Squirtle said. "Beware Water-types, though."

As Charizard grumbled, Prof. Juniper came back with a rolling desk. On top of said desk, there was only a small pig-like Pokémon that looked at them with a happy look. "I'm so sorry," Juniper said. "It looks like we only have this Tepig to offer. We're not ready to give you a Snivy or an Oshawott. This one here is a Tepig. He's a Fire-type."

Red looked down at the Tepig who in turn looked up at him. "Tepig!" it said.

"Another Fire-type?" Charizard asked bewildered in his own language. Everyone looked at him. "Are you kidding me? This pork is going to take my spot! Red, don't let him in!"

Since Red and Chris never found out how to understand Pokémon language, they simply stared at the large lizard. "Calm down, Charizard," Red said with a worried look. Tepig shuddered at the dragon. "You're probably worried that Tepig is going to overshadow you or something…"

"Oh, good, you can tell that much," Charizard roared.

Red smiled and petted the Tepig's head with care. The Tepig blinked and then mumbled some pleased oinks. "I'll take this one along for the ride," he said.

Once Red moved back his hand, the Tepig wagged his small tail around. "Tepig! Tepig!" he said, jumping to Red's arms. The group laughed in merriment as Tepig nuzzled his face up to Red's chin.

"Looks like you two are going to be good friends!" Juniper said as she took out a badge case from behind. "You'll need this to keep your badges safe and sound." The trainer took the badge case and stored it inside his pocket. "Now you're ready to take on the Unova League! The nearest place with a Gym Leader is in Striaton City. You can reach it if you go up north. Before you reach the city, you'll first enter Accumula Town on the way there."

"Alright," Red said nodding as he looked down at his new Tepig. "Once I get my eight badges, I'll go challenge the Elite Four and the Champion."

Suddenly, Juniper gave him a quizzical look. "The Elite Four?" she said.

The others looked at her. "Is something wrong?" Chris asked.

"It's nothing," Juniper said with a chuckle. "You _could _challenge the Elite Four and the Champion if you really want to."

"…" Red tilted his head. "Do you doubt that I won't get to fight them?"

"Oh no!" she said. "You look like a strong trainer. I'll cheer you up from the sidelines as you make your way to the league. But you better hurry…"

"Hurry?"

"Yes," Juniper said. "You came a little too late. The league is going to be held in three months starting now. If you hurry up, you'll have a shot."

Red blinked, confused at the weird deadline. The Kanto region didn't have a deadline for the league, so he thought that things were different in the Unova region. "Oh, I see. In that case, we'll get going," Red said, bowing to her. "Thank you."

"You're welcome, Red," Juniper said, wishing the trainer the best of luck.

Outskirts

The entourage was now moving to the northern exit of the town as they wondered why the professor gave them some weird info about the league itself. "Wow, things in Unova are a little bit too different than in Sinnoh," Mightyena noted. "Last time I checked, there wasn't a deadline…"

"I found that rude from her," Ivysaur said. "She doesn't think we stand a chance! I should've grabbed a log an-"

"Don't you go there, Ivysaur," Red said as a confused Tepig heard his fellow Pokémon talking human language. "If that's her way of making me get serious, I'll take it."

"Maybe she didn't believe we'll make it before the deadline," Chris said. "…Want to use my controller?"

Red sighed. "No, Chris, but I'm tempted to use it…IF we don't make it in time, that is." He looked down at Tepig. "That reminds me… Tepig is giving us weird looks."

Emolga, riding on top of Luxray's back, stared at the fire pig. "He needs speaking lessons!" she said. "You know, like all of us did!"

"Speaking lessons for Tepig?" Red wondered, smiling at the idea. "Hey, I am thinking about sticking with him. I should go for it and start teaching him how to talk." Tepig blinked, confused at what they were trying to do with him.

Oshawott chuckled. "That reminds me! We have all three Unova starters in our group!" he pointed out. "What do you think Tepig will turn into?"

"Hopefully _not _another Fire and Fighting type," Pikachu said. The group was nearly clueless about the Unova region as a whole, so they didn't know much about it. They were almost fresh to it. "I got sick of it when I saw Monferno. Hey, Tepig! Do you evolve into a Fighting type?"

In his language, Tepig said, "I don't know."

"Wonderful," Snivy said sarcastically, sitting on Arcanine's back. "Oshawott and I know our evolutionary lines…but I'm still wondering if I should really evolve all the way to Serperior…"

Chris grabbed her by the sides and petted her head. "I'll let you take that decision," he said. "Once you have it, I'll do my best to evolve you."

She smiled warmly. "Thank you. That's why I like you," she muttered the last part to herself more than anyone else. She leaned her head on his chest to rest.

"And as Red is making his journey," Chris began, "I'm going to be hard at work to finish my project."

"What project?" Red asked.

"The computer class I signed to for my first year in college requested me to do a project about why I'm interested in electronics," he explained. "It's kind of a hard project to do, but since Master Hand used his space-bending powers to freeze time in my world…I've got a HUGE advantage to finish it right after I got it!" He chuckled heartily. "I'm going to be off the hook once we finish this journey!"

"So you're going to be busy doing that project?" Luxray asked.

"Just for you, I'm not going to glue my face to my laptop," Chris said, looking blank. "I do want to enjoy my time with all of you." Lucario pulled him under his right arm, growling with affection. "It's just us and the league. No one in this region is going to make us have a bad time."

"Except the trainers that lock their eyes into mine, say something completely unrelated to Pokémon, and then toss their Pokémon on my face," Red said. "…Oh wait. I can use Chris as a wall…"

"Hush, you," Chris said annoyed. "You need to train Tepig. Let him absorb all the experience. My Pokémon have plenty of experience."

"I guess you're right…"

Oshawott blinked and looked angry. "I need the experience!" he said. "I'm the last guy of your team, remember? I look like I was neglected compared to everyone else!"

"And now I have a legitimate reason to do a few battles," Chris said. "Well, we can abuse the hell out of Lucario as a sparring partner."

"I don't mind that," Lucario said, secretly preening over the fact that he was the standard which everyone else in the world was judged. "Training with ten different opponents trying to land their attacks does give me some good workout."

Mightyena gave him a sly look. "You go, aura nuke," he said, making Lucario grunt. As Red tried to get Tepig into learning how to say a simple greeting, the group made its way out from Nuvema Town into Route 1.

They stopped to see the sign next to the lone road overlooking a few mountains in the horizon. "Route 1?" Pichu wondered.

"This region is clearly far away from the other four regions," Luxray said. "They start off with the first number for their routes."

Route 1

Once having entered the first route of their journey, the group kept walking down the road until night settled in. There were a few new Pokémon that roamed about in the fields, but Red wasn't interested in catching his only three options. For starters, he had caught a Pidove near the Smash Mansion grounds so he didn't need to catch another one.

Red was familiar with camping out in the open. He was about to bring a tent until Chris showed up with a cottage. It was technically a fancier-looking tent with more space and a roof. The group set up the cottage in the middle of some trees along with a small campfire in front of it. In truth, the teen was not up to the idea of camping. It was the main reason why he avoided doing a good old-fashioned trip around Sinnoh.

After having eaten dinner, they entered the cottage and saw down in a big circle while they talked among each other. Once Red cleared his throat to get their attention, he said, "This was a good first day, everyone. I want to thank you for coming along for the ride. It's going to make my journey livelier."

"We all get something out of it," Pikachu said. "Me, I get to see ten-year olds busting their heads open." Everyone looked at him with morbid looks. "…Oh, please, you guys know it's not a good reasoning to make young kids make worldwide journeys."

"O…kay…" Red trailed off. "That aside…uh…best wishes for our journey?" he said.

"Why are you doubtful?" Ivysaur asked, lying down on his stomach. "That Juniper person dragged your hopes down?"

"No. I'm not used to be the leader of a large group of people," Red said, looking at the others. "Normally, it's somebody else like we always do when we travel to other worlds to fight the Subspace Army…"

Chris shrugged. "But this time is different," he said. "We don't have to worry about them here. Also, we got a whole lot of Pokémon to keep us safe."

Swampert was sitting next to him. "Why don't you just say that Lucario is here?" he asked.

"Because I don't want to keep glorifying him," Chris said. Lucario, meanwhile, lamented the fact he wasn't going to be praised by his trainer. "He's on sentry duty for the rest of the journey. He'll keep up alert if someone dangerous comes to us."

"Um…" Red trailed off. "So…there was something that was bothering me… Remember that Prof. Juniper said that there was another trainer from Pallet Town here in Unova?"

"Oh, I remember," Jigglypuff said.

"I was wondering if that trainer was Green."

Chris stared at him. "You mean your childhood friend Green?" he asked.

Red was not the only trainer from Pallet Town that set out on a journey. Besides just Gary, there was a young girl named Green whom he was very close to. She had left on her journey a year before Red started. To the group, it was obvious that he held a bit of a crush for her. "Yes," Red said. "I think it could be a coincidence that she's here now…"

"Why didn't you ask Juniper about her?" Squirtle asked.

Red shook his head. "I…don't want to pull you guys around in a hurry," he muttered. "This is supposed to be a normal journey with no rush. I don't want to know if she's really here to make me subconsciously seek her out."

"Please," Luxray said, lying down on his front legs. "It's just a coincidence that there's another Kanto trainer in Unova. You're thinking too much about it."

"I suppose you're right…" Red chuckled with everyone. "I'm probably hallucinating."

"Let that random Kanto trainer do their thing while we do ours," Pikachu said, curling up into a ball next to Pichu. "Let's enjoy the region and fight our way to the Unova League."

The group nodded and decided to call it a night. As Chris and his small Pokémon used Arcanine as a furred pillow while everyone else slept, the teen took out his laptop. Looking over at him before sleeping, Red raised his head. "What are you doing?" he asked. "Are you seriously working on that project in the middle of the night?"

"Oh, I'm not doing that," Chris said, looking at him. "I'm going to start a small journal of our adventure."

"A journal?"

"You know…so I can remember any important day of our journey."

"Huh…" Red thought about it. "I think I'm going to get a journal for myself once we arrive at Accumula Town tomorrow… Oh well. Good night, Chris. Don't stay up for too long." He saw Tepig sleeping next to him. The young trainer placed a hand on his back and slowly drifted off to sleep.

As the teen gave him a warm smile, Chris went back to writing a document page on his computer, feeling Oshawott nudging his face on his lap.

_Diary Entry #1_

_Today we started off the journey across the Unova region. After arriving at Nuvema Town, we went to see Prof. Juniper to get Red registered for the Unova League. I kind of wanted to enter too, but I just didn't feel like it this time. I want to be some sort of support to Red instead… Maybe I'm going to take on the Brock role._

…

_Oh god, I don't know how to cook that much… Are we going to live on fast food? We are completely loaded with money, but we need to cook… I need to check that up with Red tomorrow…_

_Oddly, Prof. Juniper gave us weird looks when Red mentioned the Elite Four and the Champion of the region. It made me wonder if Unova had a different system than the other four regions… That must be it. I feel embarrassed just thinking about it. People will think that we come from the boonies if we ask about the Elite Four._

_For now, we've got ourselves a new member: Tepig. I can't wait to see its evolution! Here hoping that it's not another dual Fighting-type. I'm sick of them… We're going to be training him so that he can talk._

_I wonder what'll happen next tomorrow and the days after that. Only three months till we make it to the league… A lot can happen during that time, and I'll try to do my best to balance my fun time with my homework time. Hmm, I need to act very supportive here. My Pokémon need to do that too. Please, don't cause any trouble, everyone._

_Best wishes to us, I guess. That's a nice saying._

The computer screen turned off, and Chris went to sleep, stealing one glance to Lucario who was sitting close to the cottage's door. The Aura Pokémon gave him a small smile and muttered, "Good night, Chris". Chuckling, his trainer dozed off and fell asleep. Tomorrow was another day in their lives…

* * *

_Off to a simple start. Each chapter will end with a diary entry page. Next chapter, though, Red will also share his thoughts of the day._

_I encourage everyone to review to voice out your thoughts._


	3. Region Weak Against Charizard

_Let's establish a few more things before the real action starts in the story, shall we?_

_I encourage all Charizard fans to read on, enjoy, and review._

* * *

**Chapter 2: Region Weak Against Charizard**

-Route 1-

Cottage Camping Site

_Early Morning_

Chris was hardly used to the idea of camping out into the open. One reason he was against the notion of camping out with the bugs (or Bug Pokémon in this case) was because he felt a bit disgusted. He was amazed that young people like Red did this kind of thing too often during journeys across regions. Chris felt too tempted to use the controller method to make a path to a safe room indoors: either the one at the prestigious Smash Mansion or the one at his peaceful home.

The bad feeling was alleviated somewhat due to the fact he and Red were surrounded by murderous monsters that obeyed their orders…during battle. Outside of battles, it was mostly a matter of "every kid/teen and Pokémon for themselves" for the more outgoing ones. In the end, the ones that were most responsible never left their sides much.

During the early morning, the large cast of characters were taking down the cottage and storing the camping tools away. It looked extremely morbid to have the convenient hammer-space storage to store any sort of thing that wasn't hideously big, but nobody complained. "(Anything to make the journey any less stressful,)" Red thought. He'd made sure to take out his bicycle from his back when nobody was looking his way.

"So then…" Chris trailed off as everyone was ready to leave for Accumula Town, "I was thinking yesterday night that we need to solve this issue about the food we eat between towns and cities…"

At this, Arcanine's eyes widened as he yelled, "WE'RE GONNA STARVE TO _DEATH!_" startling almost everyone within hearing range.

Snivy, annoyed, used a vine to slap his cheek. "Hush, you big loon," she scolded. Arcanine shed a tear and looked down at her. "We're not starving to death. We have a rather endless supply of berries that we can eat anytime."

Ivysaur looked away with a sigh. "But we need variety," he said. "Berries do get old after a while…"

"I can't argue you with that, however," she said, sounding disappointed.

"And we can't live on grilled cheese, either," Pikachu noted, shaking his tail. He looked up at the trainers. "You need to have this sort of thing planned out from the beginning. If you want to live, you need food…and variety!"

Red rubbed his chin. "Well, we can spend my money on the best food we can find in towns and cities and have that for leftovers," he said.

"No," Jigglypuff said. "We don't carry a fridge around! Everything'll get spoiled before we have a chance to eat anything… Not even hammer-space is that kind to us!"

"What is so bad about berries?" Lucario asked. Everyone stared at him. "They're very nutritious. We have a lot of different kinds of them."

"Don't make me toast you on the spot, you big dog of death," Charizard fumed, supporting the idea of having something else to eat other than berries. "I'm used to eating other stuff. No way I'm going back to eating fruit!"

Pikachu looked deviously at the two trainers. "One of you needs to be the Brock by cooking up food," he said. The other Pokémon agreed by nodding their heads in unison.

Red quickly looked at Chris. "You know how to cook!" he said. "All I can cook is sandwiches."

"B-but…" Chris stuttered, feeling undermined at the proposal of being a cook. "I…don't really know how to cook a lot of things… I always used to cook simple recipes to get me by when I was alone in my home. More often than not, my relatives would come over to cook food for me."

An unsettling silence fell in as everyone exchanged glances.

"…There's no way around this," Luxray said, getting the team's attention. He closed his eyes as he said, "Either we suck it up and eat berries along with the same stuff for three months…or…we…" he was unsure about the other suggestion he came up with, "…we…find some kind of human partner who wants to come along with us and knows how to cook a lot."

"…" Red thought about the last suggestion as everyone mumbled things to one another. "That's…actually not a bad idea," he said.

"It is a bad idea!" Squirtle suddenly piped up. "This is a whole lot different than when we are going to other worlds requesting other main characters' help! In our world, getting someone else to join someone else's journey is nice and dandy…but not us."

Red blinked, confused. "Why?"

"'Cause we're a bunch of weird Pokémon that can talk English just fine," Ivysaur pointed out, and Squirtle nodded. "If we have someone else join us…that's going to keep a lock on our mouths. It doesn't look like it, but all of us – my brethren – like having to talk to you two without restrictions!"

Mightyena grinned. "Not talking will make Chris and Red figure out our every howl," he said. "Imagine the hilarity!"

"And the annoyance it will cause," added Snivy, to which then Mightyena sighed. She was right.

"…Uh…" Lucario muttered loud enough for everybody else to hear. "…I can open a mental link with each one of our minds to talk through telepathy within a hundred miles if necessary."

"…Oh yes, he can do that!" Chris said relieved. "You're a supernatural Lucario. You can do that sort of thing without trouble!"

Lucario felt proud for getting a compliment from his trainer. He smiled as he said, "If we use my method, we can avoid having to explain ourselves to others. I don't want anybody to follow us because we'r-"

"Weirdos who can talk," Swampert interjected.

"…I wouldn't put it that way, but yes."

Red chuckled. "That takes care of that…I think," he said. "Yet still…maybe it's going to be okay to let them know about our little secret…"

Chris thought about the possibility. "If they're very trustable, I think we can make exceptions," he said. "…Just, talking about our other fair share of secrets is a no-no."

"Remind me again?" Oshawott asked.

"One, I'm not really from the Pokémon world," Chris said. "Two, every single universe is a video game except for mine."

"Oh yes," Snivy said, shrugging at the facts. "Those facts gave me such a nasty explosion inside my mind the first time I found out…" Her fellow companions shrugged and nodded.

"We'll be fine!" Pichu said brightly, climbing on top of Arcanine's back. "Here for a bountiful journey across Unova!"

Red nodded. "Who knows, maybe we'll find Hilbert, Hilda, Cheren, and Bianca down the road. This is their home region," he pointed out. "They know our secret about talking Pokémon."

The teen remembered the time when the four Unovan trainers wandered into the Smash Mansion grounds only for them to investigate the mansion after seeing the rare sight of a Mewtwo inside. From there, things unraveled, ending up with the fellow trainers becoming acquainted with everyone. "Yes!" Chris said relieved. "They surely know how to cook!"

"…Isn't it sad that that is our whole reason to find them in the first place?"

"…Yes…"

"…So, uh, on to Accumula Town, everybody!" He picked Tepig up. The little pig looked happy, flailing his little legs around.

-Accumula Town-

Park

_Early Afternoon_

The team had made it safely to Accumula Town. Just like Nuvema Town, the town looked pretty normal with no exceptional places that made it remarkable. In short, most of them considered Accumula as another forgotten town that will never be brought up again because of its lack of a Gym building. Some of them wouldn't forget the anxious looks of people due to them not being used to seeing the large Pokémon casually wandering around the place. A little girl wanted to hug the big dogs that were Arcanine and Lucario, but her mother pulled her away. The two felt insulted.

After having treated all of the Pokémon in the local Pokémon Center (and finding out that Nurse Joy looked foreign unlike the past four regions) to be on the safe side, the group went to a secluded area at the local park to plan out their course of action across the region. Wanting to act as a support for Red, Chris managed to swipe a map of the Unova region that detailed all towns and cities. They were now sitting around a table with everyone looking down at a large map of the region.

"Gather around, everybody," Red said, as one by one the Pokémon filled the circle to inspect the map. "This here will help us a lot to get through the region."

They soon noticed that Accumula Town and the areas around it constituted an island that was detached from the mainland that led to a big circle of other cities and places to go. "We're starting in an island of sorts," Luxray commented.

Luckily, the map had small bits of info that highlighted the most important features of the cities. On the back of the map, one would find more detailed info in sentence form. For now, they focused on the actual map. "Here we are…" Red said, drawing a finger on Accumula Town's location. There was almost nothing worthwhile mentioning about the town.

Emolga jumped over his hand and pointed down at the nearest city: Striaton City. "Hey, here!" she said. "Um, I don't know how to read much. What does it say here?"

Swampert was proud of having learned how to read. He looked over to the city's table of contents to read aloud what he found there. "_Striaton City: Home of the best restaurants in Unova. Features: World-Class Restaurants & Striaton Gym,_" he read.

"There's a Gym in there," Mightyena said. "Oh, great. The next city won't be a boring one without anything. What does it say about the Gym?"

"_Gym Leaders: Cilan, Chili, and Cress,_" Snivy read. "_Also known as the Striaton Triplets, challengers might choose which sibling to fight to earn the Trio Badge. _You can choose who to fight? That's nice. _The Gym specializes in Grass, Fire, and Water types with the respective sibling._"

"So I can choose who to fight…" Red muttered.

"Pick Cilan," Charizard said. "I can burn his Pokémon alive. There. Easy win."

Red sighed. "It's times like this I wish I started from zero to avoid getting easy wins," he said.

Pikachu gave him an angry look. "Hey, don't say that now. I hate when somebody says that," he said. "Say that again and I will zap you."

Red had been told already that Ash always did that in each region he visited. Although Red wanted to meet the guy someday, Pikachu prohibited the very thought to everyone else because he didn't want his trainer to find out that the Pikachu he started with was not with him at the moment. An identical Pikachu was taking his original one's place. Pikachu adored his freedom, though he did miss Ash from time to time when the questionable topic about his expertise as a trainer was never discussed. "Alright, I get the point," Red said. "The second half of the Gyms should increase in difficulty. Also, I do plan in catching new Pokémon."

"Neglecting the several Patrat and Lillipup (the cute little ones) on the way here wasn't such a good choice," Chris said. "You're planning to catch all Pokémon in the world, don't you?"

"Oh, you're right. I forgot about that… Well, next time, I'll try to befriend them using my old method," Red said. The method he mentioned was feeding Pokémon with the right food. It was an easy method that didn't work most of the time, but when it did, the tamed Pokémon would gladly accompany Red around without being force to through a battle. Red looked back at the map. "Okay, so Striaton City is north of here. We can reach it by tomorrow."

"What's the next city?" Snivy asked.

Oshawott looked sharp. His reading skills were slowly taking off, so he wanted to prove everyone that he was a badass. Ultimately, he _thought _thatreading now would prove him as a badass. Sauntering over Striaton City's spot, he eyed the next city's table of contents. "_Nacrene…City… Home of warehouses…and artists… Gym Leader: Le…nora…_"

Chris felt proud. "Oshawott, your reading skills are coming along great!" he said. "I'm so proud of you."

The Otter Pokémon looked up, looking proud, as his other companions looked at him with dull looks. He went back to reading the map. "_Lenora owns the Nacreme Mu…seum…with her husband… She…speciali…zes…in…Normal…types…_ Whew!" he sighed, looking exhausted.

However, many of them looked sick after listening to what he said. "She's…a Normal-type Gym Leader…" Squirtle trailed off, looking ill.

Red looked like he wanted to barf, seeing as there was a purple shade over his forehead. "Oh no…" he muttered.

A traumatic flashback played in his mind. It wasn't the first time he had fought a Normal-type Gym Leader. A long time ago, he met Whitney, the very same Goldenrod Gym Leader. She had showed up around the village next to the Smash Mansion because she had gotten herself lost during a dandy walk around the forest. When Red learned that she was a Gym Leader from Johto, he fought her, thinking that it would be nice training.

He unwillingly let Squirtle, Ivysaur, and Charizard know the terror that was her Miltank. Once Rollout was on the move, Red could only remember himself yelling, "_**NO, NO, NO, NOOOOOOOO!**_" in complete panic. The three were soundly defeated in one-fell strike.

As for Chris, he never did actually fight her face-to-face, but he never forgot the times when he tried to defeat her in the video game when he was younger.

"…Moooooooooo," Jigglypuff muttered.

"Hoo boy…" Pikachu trailed off. "I always saw Normal-types as the most unimportant types nobody liked to use the most…until I met Whitney…and then Norman."

Squirtle stared at Red's exasperated look. "…Red?"

"…" Red shook his head. "Sorry, traumatic flashback… S-still! There's no telling if she's that freakishly strong like…Whitney… This is an early Gym, anyway. They need to go easy on us…"

Charizard interlaced his clawed fingers and looked up to the sky, "Please don't let her have Rollout, please don't let her have Rollout…" he prayed to almighty Arceus.

"…M-moving on," Chris said, looking down at the map with the rest. "After Nacrene City, we'll cross a bridge to make it to…"

"_Castelia City_," Mightyena read. Tepig felt a bit jealous that everybody but him could talk and read. "_City of skyscrapers and businesses. Gym Leader: Burgh. He is an avid artist whose love to Bug-types can't be compared to anyone else. _Ugh, Bug-types," he shuddered. "I've got no idea why my typing is weak against their attacks…"

The fire lizard smirked. "Oh, thank goodness! Some relief after the nightmare in Nacrene City!" he rejoiced. "MAN! It's like this region doesn't like Fire-types or something!"

"You, stop showing off," Squirtle said. "I'm betting the next Gym is a Fire-type Gym."

"I wouldn't be too sure about that," Arcanine said. Squirtle blinked as the huge canine read the city north of Castelia City, "_Nimbasa City: The city of amusement parks and stage shows. Gym Leader: Elesa. She is a famous fashion model whose sparking personality is matched by her Electric-types._"

"Oh, come on!" Squirtle groaned as Charizard laughed. "News Flash: You're also a Flying-type! You'll get zapped down in that place!"

"Yeah, but I can put up a good fight against Electric-types!" Charizard said, puffing out his chest.

"Not so much against Water-types, though," Ivysaur said, making the Fire-type scoff at him.

Jigglypuff noticed that there was more info about Nimbasa City. "_Nimbasa City is also home of the Pokémon Musical where Pokémon can entertain the audience with their clothes and moves._ There! There! I need to go there!" she said excited. "That's the place! It's right next to the Gym!"

"Good, it's on the way to the Gym after all," Red said. "But, um, how does one exactly participate in a musical?"

Jigglypuff closed her eyes and simply said, "I'm an instant expert for these things. I'll figure it ALL out when we get there."

"…" Red grimaced. "Next up is…" his finger was drawn to the west of Nimbasa City. "…Hey, the bridge connecting Nimbasa City and the next one is also known as the Charizard Bridge…"

"I like this region!" Charizard explained with a happy look. Everyone else rolled their eyes.

Red just sighed and went to the next city on the map. "_Driftveil City: Home of diggers and a growing economy funded by the Gym Leader, Clay. He is a rowdy man with big dreams buried in the dirt, requesting the aid of his Ground-types._"

"FINALLY!" Squirtle said. "A place where Ivysaur and I can shine instead of this big buffoon over here…"

"If you forgot already, I'm a Flying-type," Charizard said boasted. "Ground-types are nothing against me."

"I don't like this region!" Ivysaur complained. "It's like everyone is afraid of Charizard!" Little they did know that Clay had a Steel-type as his main Pokémon, which further proved that Charizard was going to decimate the Gym.

"Come on, now…" Luxray said. "You're drawing fast conclusions. Start complaining after we're finished with our path, okay?" Squirtle sulked.

Swampert looked northwest of Driftveil City's point. "_Mistralton City: The large airport city. Gym Leader: Skyla. Skyla is a master pilot who reaches out into the skies with her Flying-types._"

"Pass…" Ivysaur muttered. Charizard chuckled.

"Hmm, I need to catch a Rock-type or an Electric-type for that one…" Red trailed off.

Pikachu raised his hand. "I don't mind if you use me for that Gym," he said.

"You're as much of a game breaker like Lucario!" Red said. "That Volt Tackle of yours is just…inhuman."

"Not to mention it's strong enough to give anyone seizures when you use it," Chris noted. "I still remember that time when you got it from Master Hand and used it on a random enemy."

"FLASH!" Squirtle said, opening his arms wide. "And then everyone dropped to the floor with a grave case of seizures…"

"It's not my fault you can't handle the spark," Pikachu said defensively, playfully sparking sparks on his red cheeks. "After all, I'm level 500!"

"Whether you're that level or not doesn't matter," Red said. "Anyway, I might use your help, but NO VOLT TACKLE. Seriously, you'll kill somebody if you use it again."

At that moment, they heard Charizard snickering. "What is it…" Snivy said, almost knowing full well where he was going. He pointed a clawed finger northeast of Mistralton City. "_Icirrus City. The city of ice and snow. Gym Leader: Pryce. A former movie star, Pryce has a hardened body that can withstand the cold temperature with his Ice-types…_"

"…" Squirtle and Ivysaur were giving Charizard some nasty glares as the Fire-type snickered.

Red looked down at Tepig on his arms. "…Oh, I forgot! Tepig needs the wins," he said, making his trio look at him. Charizard's irises shrunk. "I'm not letting Charizard waste all that experience."

Squirtle and Ivysaur grinned at a bewildered Charizard. "In your scaly face!" they both said in unison.

"Y-you can't be serious!" Charizard said. "I was having a good time rejoicing on my future victories! You can't just…go ruin them all like this!"

Red got serious. "Hey, you listen to me now!" he said. "I know you're a damned cannonball on two legs, but there's no way I'm neglecting my other Pokémon! I don't want to face deep trouble if you're taken out at the league and my other Pokémon aren't trained well."

"Fine!" Charizard said. "You'll need me, anyway…"

"This is so Fire Emblem-ish," Chris randomly commented.

Lucario shrugged. "Don't remind me that time," he said. "I was told to stay away from the battles one time too many…"

"Okay, that settles the seven Gyms," Red said. Charizard crossed his arms in a vehement fashion. "The last Gym would be… _Opelucid City: City of dragons. Gym Leader: Drayden. A powerhouse himself, Drayden is extremely knowledgeable in Dragon-types. Rumor has it that he wrestles Dragon-types himself despite his age…_"

"He WRESTLES dragons?" Mightyena said. "…That's badass in my book!"

"I can just imagine how the last Gym is going to be," Chris said. He fought the thought about an old man fighting Red's Pokémon head on without using Dragon-types at all. It'd be a very demeaning defeat that would prove humans didn't need Pokémon to fight. "Oh no, it's a Dragon-type Gym. If it's anything like Clair's Gym, you're in for a rough time with him."

"I know Dragon Claw," Charizard scoffed. "But our little pork here SURELY is learning Roar of Time when he evolves twice, and that's going to put me out from the battle!"

Tepig shook in fear just looking at the imposing dragon-like monster. "Knock it off, Charizard!" Red demanded. "Just shut your mouth and let me rotate Pokémon equally!"

"Fine, fine, I get it," Charizard fumed.

"Geez," Red muttered. "Back on the course… After I get all eight badges, it'll be the time for us to go through the Victory Road of this region, and then after that, the league it is."

"And so," Ivysaur said, looking northward of Opelucid City as he used a vine to draw the path, "the Pokémon League should be located right around…right around…right…around…"

The group noticed that there was no mention of a Victory Road close to Opelucid City. To the north of Opelucid City, there was a forgettable city called Vertress City that had no relation to the Gyms. "It's not to the north…" Swampert noted.

"Maybe it's somewhere else?" Arcanine asked.

The group exchanged glances before they broke into groups to search for the Victory Road somewhere in the Unova region. Since there was a circle of cities and town connected in the very center of the region, they thought that the Victory Road was on the east side. They passed over Lacunosa Town and Undella Town, but there wasn't any sign of the road anywhere.

"…Wait a minute," Oshawott spoke up as he found a city called Humilau City in the northeast corner of the region. He narrowed his eyes to read the table of contents. "…This city has a Gym Leader, too!"

Red and the others turned to him. "Wait, there's a ninth Gym in the region?" he asked.

"Unova has nine Gyms?" Ivysaur asked. "Uh, wow, this region is really that different from Kanto…"

Lucario looked to the southwest corner of the map, and his eyes were drawn to another city called Virbank City. "…Make that ten Gyms," he said, and everyone looked to his direction.

"Ten Gyms?" Chris said. "But Red needs to defeat eight Gyms…"

Red rubbed his chin. "Maybe they don't like forcing trainers to go around all over Unova?" he wondered. "That's the only reason I can think of…"

"…So, where's the Victory Road again?" Swampert asked, looking doubtful.

A small time passed, but despite their efforts, none of them could find the Victory Road, or the Pokémon League for that matter, anywhere in Unova. After coming to the realization, they could only look confused at each other. "What's the big idea?" Emolga asked. "The Victory Road is nowhere!"

"And the Pokémon League is absent, too…" Pichu muttered. "What is wrong with this region?"

"I don't get it, either!" Charizard said. "What's the point in defeating eight Gyms if you don't have a league to participate?"

"…Oh, I get it now!" Squirtle said. "The officials surely inform THE LUCKY ONES WITH EIGHT BADGEEEEEES themselves about the location of the Victory Road! That's why it's not listed on the map!" He crossed his arms and nodded. "Yeah, that's it."

"That makes…no sense whatsoever," Chris said. "…But since there's almost no logic in any of the worlds we've visited, that must be it."

Red stared blankly at them. "Ugh, Unova is proving to be such a weird place," he said. "It works…so different from what I've gotten used to..."

After silence fell in, Luxray said, "There is no other way. This is how we're expected to do things. We need to just tough it up till the end."

Pikachu chuckled. "I swear, you guys, that if you happened to participate in my world, you'll be just as astonished," he said. "In my world, you don't fight the Elite Four and/or the Champion. Instead, you get to fight a lot of WEIRD Pokémon and their even WEIRDER trainers. When I learned things aren't the same in the game worlds, I had to facepalm multiple times. Life is much better in the game worlds than my world…"

"Luckily, that's not the case here," Snivy said with a smile. She looked at the area around Pinwheel Forest on the map. "…This forest… This is my home."

Chris blinked. "That's your home?" he asked and she nodded.

"Yes. That's where my parents live," she said. "They're two Serperior that watch over the forest. They…told me to go out into the world to learn about how it works."

Her trainer shrugged. "I hope they like the idea of you being owned by me," he said. "I don't want to have two large snakes using Wrap on my frail body." He noticed Lucario stiffened his look. "You don't get any crazy ideas! You're not harming any of them!"

"Fine, but if they do harm you…" Lucario trailed off, slowly muttering a menacing growl.

"They won't," Snivy said. "They're pacifists that defend Pokémon instead of attacking others. It'll…be nice to see them again, I guess." She smiled at Chris. "I did find the right trainer to spend my days, after all." Moved by her statement, Chris picked her up and rubbed her head. Snivy looked happy and nudged her face against his chest.

Red chuckled. "You know," he began, "having moments like these will make the journey enjoyable, so…let's not bust our heads open. Let's enjoy the ride." Everyone nodded, forgetting any drawback that the journey would give to them.

-Lacunosa Hotel-

Fourth Floor, Room C5

_Evening_

"I like having a friend who's loaded with money to the nine digits," Chris said.

"Oh, but I'm not rich enough to afford a bicycle! Those are _expensive_!" Red said, and a set of laughs soon followed.

Red didn't look like it, but he was one rich trainer, sporting a wallet that reached the impressive quantity of 999,999,999 Poké Dollars. Ever since he got to abuse an Amulet Coin that he had found during his Kanto journey, being low on money was never a worry anymore. It would only take him to show his defeated trainers the amulet to magically force them to give double the amount of money. It looked so weird when that happened, but now he didn't need to use the amulet at all.

Thanks to his richness, Red could afford anything. He never got to try out an expensive hotel before. The experience was welcomed once he did give it a shot. The hotel they were staying at was the most expensive place there in town (but it wasn't that expensive). Their room overlooked the southern side of the town at night through a big wall window. Inside said room, large red beds were placed apart from each other between luxurious golden furniture that would blind anybody if the light of the sun got in through the blue-and-yellow curtains.

The beds were too big, in fact, that many of their Pokémon took the advantage of finding the right spots to lie down. Best of all, the beds were water beds. Oshawott found himself rolling around the waving waves underneath the bed sheets, as his diligent trainer was busy working in the first pages of his large project in his laptop. The large Pokémon were allowed to rest on the bed at fixed spot, though Lucario was lucky enough to lie down in the bed next to his trainer. Red had a plethora of small Pokémon and Charizard hogging the bed he was resting on. Charizard, though, lied down his head and arms instead.

"Please, let's not _ever _go to a normal hotel," muttered Oshawott as he rolled between Mightyena and Luxray. "We are…in heaven…"

"That's a fact," Red said, taking off his hat and putting it on the drawer between the beds. He had to toss it because he was too far. "Luxury life is…luxurious. I'll never go back the way I was…" He took out a small journal from the side, buying one from the local Pokémon Center. "And now, I get to write it all down in this."

Seeing that it was getting late, Chris decided to switch to a new page to write on his diary. "What are we doing tomorrow, then?" he asked.

"We'll wake up early morning to reach Striaton City by early afternoon," Red said. "Route 2 isn't as long as Route 1."

Arcanine yawned, his large body pressing the water down the most. As a result, Emolga and Snivy were nearly swallowed under the gaps his body made. "Are we going to…find a cook in there?" he asked groggily.

"Oh, how convenient," Pikachu said, curling up into a ball next to Red's legs. "Striaton City is a city of restaurants. Maybe we'll find an aspiring chef who wants to go on a journey in there."

"But I like the hotel's food!" Pichu said, curled up next to Pikachu. "Oh Arceus, that Sitrus Berry Cake…"

"We're not living on cake," Squirtle said, his head sticking out from his shell. "Oh my goodness. What did I just say?"

"You're insane," said Ivysaur, lying down on his belly with paws outstretched. "But I'm sleepy. Good night!"

"Good night," everyone else said, but Red and Chris were busy writing on their journals. The focus was on Red as his left hand was rubbing Tepig's back with care. The pig was soundly asleep.

_Dear Diary,_

_I'll stop calling you dear because that's just not my thing._

_So then, Diary, hear me out if you can._

_I've started my journey in the Unova region! I'm so thrilled because I have friends supporting me from the sidelines. (Good thing Chris isn't doing the challenge. That Lucario of his…he's not normal… Technically, he could NOT use him, but…) So then, I was lucky enough to get a new Pokémon, that is Tepig, for the journey._

_Sadly, I can't say it's been normal. For some odd reason, there's a deadline to enter the league in this region. Furthermore, the Victory Road is absent from the map, and…so is the league. Is Unova this different? I can hardly believe how it works. Being miles away from my home region, or the other regions nearby, really does make things weird the further I travel._

_Okay, so maybe I traveled using portals, but my point remains._

_In any case, the guys and I decided on a set path. We're going to start with Striaton City and make it all the way to Opelucid City. After that…um…I'm hoping SOMEBODY tells us where the league is. It better not be somewhere outside of Unova. Who'd think that? That makes even less sense than what we're dealing with… For now, I'll deal with Charizard's giddiness. Man, I need to a close _

_Tomorrow, we'll reach Striaton City, where I'll fight one of the three siblings in there. Chris could probably take on the task of looking for a chef while I'm busy…or maybe, we'll remain in the city for a few days till we find the one._

_Best wishes to us… Hmm, that's a nice saying. Please, little saying, hold up on me!_

The focus switched on Chris.

_Diary Entry #2_

_Today we reached Accumula Town. At the local park, we formulated our course of action through the region. Everything was fine until we found out that the Victory Road was…like, nowhere on the map. The league was not even on it, either. Before that, we had to listen to Charizard showing off how easy the whole thing was going to be for him. But like what happened in Tellius, he's getting the same treatment Lucario got when we first met Ike: he'll stick in the barracks until he's needed._

"Please, Chris," Lucario said, startling his trainer. Chris just noticed the large Aura Pokémon was lying down his head at an angle he could use to see the computer screen. "Don't write that."

"Y-you're supposed to be asleep!" Chris scolded, looking flustered. Lucario turned his head away.

_Lucario just read my diary! H-how scandalous!_

"I can still use my aura to detect the movement of your fingers," Lucario pointed out. Chris groaned. "Actually, I can use your vision t-"

"Go to sleep!" everyone else said. Lucario noticed that he had been talking a little bit loud. Blushing, the Aura Pokémon muttered an apology and went to sleep. Now he wanted to see what Chris was writing about him.

_Now I'm unsure whether to write or not… No, Lucario is very loyal. Curiosity got the better of him now. That's just it…_

…_Where was I? Oh yes._

_Today, I also started my project. So far, it's looking good, but the amount of work is still too much. I have a lot of free time thanks to Master Hand freezing time in my world. I shouldn't get too caught up in this, though. I have Pokémon to look after. Training my team takes priority. I want Oshawott to evolve soon…and maybe Snivy if she wants to._

_Speaking of her, I learned that she was from Pinwheel Forest. I already met Mightyena's parents, and they almost nearly bit me… I've seen a Serperior once now, and I fear I get asphyxiated by TWO of them._

_Nah, I'm worrying too much. Once again, tomorrow is another day…_

The screen turned off. The teen put the laptop away and lied down on bed. A sleepy Lucario pulled him to his side with a free arm. With his left cheek resting on the side of Lucario's furry chest, Chris merely sighed and fell asleep. It was Lucario's subconscious telling him to keep Chris safe. The sentiment was pure and honest, though, so Chris just smiled and went along with it.

The night went by…

* * *

_Prepare yourselves to meet the third main character of the story in the next chapter._

_Note: Since my drawing skills have been steadily improving day by day, I'm drawing a widescreen cover page for this fiction. You can see the rough sketch of it at my deviantart account that goes by the same username._

_I encourage everyone to review._


	4. The Third Member

_To answer BOB JOHNSON, the next chapters won't have too many characters talking at once. All of them are out, though, but they won't say a word unless the focus is on them. There are going to be a few lines here and there. They won't distract too much._

_Now, it's time to establish the third member of the group. From here on out, the story will have more chapters centralizing on singular team members._

_I encourage fellow cooks to read on, enjoy, and review._

* * *

**Chapter 3: The Third Member**

-Striaton City-

Near The Gym

Their third day had started out well. Waking early in the morning, the group left Nuvema Town behind, crossed Route 2, and made it to Striaton City right about early afternoon. The city of restaurants was a lush place to live, as many places featured top cuisine only found in the Unova region. Seeing the several food ads in front of the many establishments made them all crave for food, but none of them was hungry yet.

"Food…ads…must…be…avoided…" Swampert muttered.

Chris rubbed the Water-type head. "We'll eat at one of the places soon," he said. "First, let's go to the Gym in the city."

Red looked excited, albeit he ignored the looks from the local citizenry directed at their Pokémon. No people came close to them. Rather, they shyly walked away from the imposing dragon of fire. "My very first Gym in the Unova region!" he said. "It's just right around the corner…"

"Oh, this is sure to be a veeeeeeeeeeery fast win," Charizard said, snickering at the thought. "Why would those guys let trainers pick the Gym Leader for this Gym? That's so suicidal."

"And there goes all traces of excitement," Snivy commented, sitting on Chris's right shoulder. "It's such a downer when you think that this Gym Battle won't be packed with much action."

"I think we shouldn't speak too loud…" Oshawott, sitting on the other shoulder, muttered.

Eventually, the group made it to the area of the Gym. They were surprised to see how gaudy and extravagant it looked like. It was a Gym building with golden carvings and pillars of gold to the sides. "Presentation is everything to set the mood, huh?" Squirtle commented.

Red stared at the double doors in front of them. "Who cares about presentation? My first Gym Battle is on the other side of the entrance," he said. "First, though, I'll need to beat the Gym Trainers before making it to the Gym Leader…"

"I forgot about the Gym Trainers," Ivysaur said. "Meh, they're even weaker than the Gym Leader. This should be a snap."

"Now, I know this is going to be an anti-climatic battle," Red began, "but let's try to pretend we struggled to avoid crushing their dreams."

"…I don't think they care much about that," Chris said, looking dull. "Why, when I did my Sinnoh run, they were happy to be defeated because it was so much fun for them. It's like their whole job is to lose to the likes of us."

"Poor Steelix," Mightyena reminisced, looking up at Lucario. "He wasn't expecting you to be strong enough to use him as a whip. He never had a chance…"

Lucario smiled a bit, proud of the memory of him grabbing a large Steelix by its tail to spin it over the floor at a fast pace. However, Chris shot Lucario with a disapproving look, which pretty much destroyed the proud feeling.

"Can we stop standing here?" Charizard asked, spewing a small flame. "Open the doors!"

As if his demand was answered by an unknown force, the double doors slammed open, much for their collective surprise. It wasn't because Charizard demanded them to open, but it was because a young Gym Leader on the other side stepped out with an angered look on his face. The Gym Leader in question dressed like a butler, but besides the stylish-looking red bowtie on his neck, his most outstanding feature was the fire-like hair he sported on his head. "I _**HAD**_ it!" he said, completely passing the group from the middle. A Pansear followed him from behind with an exasperated look. "This stupid losing streak of mine has got to stop!"

The group looked at the Gym Leader walking away. "Sheesh, somebody finally snapped," muttered Ivysaur.

From the entrance of the Gym, another person stepped out with a worried look. He dressed just like the other one, but he wore a stylish-looking blue bowtie over his neck. His hair was blue, curving down in front of his preoccupied expression. He had a lot of hair that covered half of his face. He stared at the large group in front of his Gym, but then he focused on the angered Gym Leader. "Wait, Chili! You can't just walk away like that!" he called out. There was a Panpour standing next to him. Though its eyes were closed, they could tell it looked sad.

"I'm doing it now!" the person known as Chili said, as his Pansear climbed his back all the way to his head. Shaking a fist, Chili stopped and turned around. "It's not fair you get all the wins while I lose every time! I'M GONNA GO TRAIN SOMEWHERE! BYE!" Scoffing, Chili ran away as his Pansear held tight to his head.

The atmosphere in the air was dense. As the group watched Chili disappearing from sight into the distance, they looked back at the entrance where the other guy was sighing to himself. "Oh no," he muttered, looking down at his Panpour. "This is ought to go wrong down the road…"

"Pan-pour…" his Panpour said.

"…" The guy looked ahead of him and noticed the two trainers and their Pokémon. "…Oh! Sorry!" he said, forcing a smile. "I was too much caught up with the event you just saw…" He frowned, his smile fading away. "Welcome to the Striaton Gym, trainers. My name is Cress. What can I do for you?" His Panpour smiled.

"Um…" Red trailed off, stepping forward. "I was coming here to challenge one of the three Gym Leaders for my first badge…but…"

Cress sighed once more, and his Panpour imitated the move. "I'm afraid to say that the Gym is currently…short on Gym Leaders," he pointed out. "You see, the guy that just ran out in a hurry was my brother Chili. With him like this, he's not coming back for a long while…"

Red grimaced, fearing that his chances of fighting a Gym Leader were getting cancelled. "I see… Well, there's still you and this guy named Cilan, right?" he asked.

Cress shook his head. "Cilan is also away," he said. "He's currently traveling around Unova in a personal quest. I can't say much more than that."

"…Oh great," Red muttered, his Pokémon looking away in shame. "And I guess you're leaving after your brother…"

"I was thinking about that, but that would be pointless to do," Cress said. "When Chili gets so fired up in a bad way, you'll never get anything out from him for several days. It's just how he acts."

The Kanto Trainer looked up. "Wait, so does that mean I can still have my fight with you?"

Cress smiled. "Of course!" he said. "The Gym might not have the three of us, but I'm still under Gym contract to fight trainers as I see fit. I will gladly become your opponent."

"Sweet!" Red said, his Pokémon looking appreciative.

Striaton Gym – Arena

"You're not making me fight your Gym Trainers?"

"Gym Trainers? Our Gyms don't have Gym Trainers. You can fight the Gym Leader – me – right away."

"Oh… Unova really does things differently from Kanto."

Red and Cress each stood in opposite sides of a battlefield filled with rocks and pebbles. Outside the arena, a lush blue floor covered the perimeter. The floor had multiple pillars supporting a second floor for spectators to watch. On the right of the large room, Chris and his Pokémon team stood close to the fence that was next to Red's side.

To Chris's right side, there was an unsettling amount of girls cheering for Cress. They suspected the young Gym Leader had a rabid fan club. "Were those girls there before?" Chris muttered to his Pokémon, seeing as the loud girls were cheering loudly for their idol.

"I dunno," Pikachu muttered. "I'd rather not find out."

Back on the first floor, Cress did a small spin and held out an open palm to Red. His legion of fangirls squealed in delight, deafening Red's team on the other side. "Allow me to give you a proper introduction, Red!" Cress called out, and seemingly out of nowhere, a spotlight shone down on the Gym Leader. "Welcome to the Striaton Gym. I, Gym Leader – and principal cook of my beloved restaurant! - Cress, shall be your opponent for the day."

There was a female referee in front of the middle portion of the arena. "Pokémon Trainer Red from Pallet Town has challenged Gym Leader Cress. The match shall be one Pokémon each from each side. Once one Pokémon is out, a winner shall be decided," she said, holding flags on each hand. "Does the challenger agree with these conditions?"

"Yes," Red said, his Pokémon looking fierce.

"Then, without further ado," she raised the flags, "let the battle begin!"

"_**WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! CREEEEEEEEEESS!**_" the fangirls cheered loudly. Upset by their constant loud yelling, Mightyena tried to sneak away from the group to go use Crunch in the most brutal way possible, but Chris held him back, much to his chagrin.

Red blinked, feeling weird. He shook his head and regained his composure. "A-alright, time to begin this!" he said.

Cress confidently brandished a Poké Ball and tossed it high. "Come on out, Panpour!" he said.

The water monkey came out in a bright flash of light, landing on the battlefield with a peppy look on its face. "Pan-pour!" it exclaimed. The fangirls squealed as Panpour cordially bowed to Red.

"Okay, Ivysaur! Go!" Red told the Grass-type. Looking sharp, Ivysaur ran into the battlefield.

"Ah, smart choice," Cress said nodding. "A Grass-type against a Water-type… Hmm-hm, don't think that this is going to be that easy, though. I do know my way around Grass-types."

As Red chuckled confidently, his team watched the battle intently, trying to ignore the fangirls. "Here comes a good battle," Swampert said.

Oshawott looked up at him. "Why'd you say that?" he asked. "This is the first Gym Battle. These ones are easy."

"No, I can tell there's a fervent determination in Cress's eyes. I'm a Water-type, I should know!" he said. Tears welled up on his eyes. "Don't underestimate Water-types, little Oshawott! Be proud of being one like me, but don't pay too much attention on my second typing because that would ruin my point a bit. So, as I was saying, us Water-types are proud warriors from the ocean who cannot be defeated that easily! Red might be good, but he's fighting a professional Water-type Gym Leader here! Sure, we are weak against Grass-types, but our water can drown even the sturdiest leafy Pokémon. Part of our purpose is to prove how strong we are to the ones that we are weak to. We train hard each day to overcome our weakness to become crazy fighting machines that aren't so easily brushed off with a simple Razor Leaf attack. Yes, I know being a Ground-type cripples me even further, but I can take on some leaves! Because I'm a strong Water-type, that's why! We trample Grass-types like trash! No offense to you, Snivy, of course. We perform some deadly Water Gun attacks that make our opponents wish they weren't fighting us! There's a good reason why we own the largest amount of mass in the whole planet, because we are plentiful and important to the overall natural life! So what if Grass-types have the surface to bask on the sunshine? Our domain owns theirs, so they should just shut up and live with it! As I was saying, we don't fear Grass-types! They fear _us_! Therefore, even though we have crippling weaknesses that make our skin shudder, WE FIGHT ON TO **ACHIEVE **_**VICTO-**_"

"_**PAAAAAAAAAAAAAA-**_"

The group saw Panpour's body flung high up to the pillar next to them due to Ivysaur's Vine Whip, its back slamming hard against the concrete and making a deep crack. The impact made them all briefly close their eyes before opening them right back up to stare at Panpour's defeated expression, just in time to see it fall back down, which further hurt it even more. The fangirls lamented the sight they just saw and started weeping and crying, much to Mightyena's consternation.

"Oh my!" Cress said, looking astonished.

"…The match is over!" the referee said in astonishment, raising a flag to Red. "The winner is Red!"

As Red pumped up a fist with Ivysaur running in circles around his feet and Chris applauding him for a quick win, Oshawott looked back at Swampert with a dull look on his eyes. "Yeah… So much for that inspirational speech of yours. I'm gonna stay away from Grass-types till I learn X-Scissor…"

Swampert closed his eyes, toon tears rushing down at full force. "Make me proud…" he muttered.

An apologetic Cress returned Panpour to his sphere. Chuckling, he walked to the center of the arena as Red came closer to him. "Red, I wasn't sincerely expecting you to be so good at this," he said. "That battle might have ended so fast, but you clearly know what you're doing."

"I don't mean to brag, but I'm an expert," Red said. "I'm the Kanto League Champion."

Cress blinked. "Wow, really? Then it was such an honor to fight the Kanto League Champion himself!" He smiled brightly, taking out a badge. The badge was a thin item divided into three sections that reflected the Gym's three types. "The Unova League isn't going to stand a chance against you. As a reward for defeating me, I concede the Trio Badge to you."

Red took the badge with a smile and put it on his badge case. "Nice! My first Unova badge!" he said, his Pokémon looking happy.

"Allow me to give you my advice to where you should go next, seeing as this was your first Gym Battle," Cress said. "The nearest Gym to my Gym is the Nacrene Gym at Nacrene City to the west of here."

Red revived the past with Whitney just remembering that Nacrene City had a Normal-type Gym Leader.

Seeing Red's frozen look, Cress tilted his head. "Red?" he said.

"…Oh, sorry. Traumatic flashback."

"…" Cress chuckled. "Okay…"

Pokémon Center

After having won his first badge, Red and the others went to the Pokémon Center to heal their Pokémon. The battle hadn't worn Ivysaur out, but rather the trip from Accumula Town to Striaton City. Both Red and Chris were sitting opposite from each other across a square table. Tepig was the only one who didn't feel all that tired, lying his belly down between them. "That fight back there was so anti-climatic…" Red trailed off.

"Oh, please," Chris said. "You should've seen my Sinnoh run. Lucario technically struck fear to everyone he raised a fist to hit." He sighed. "In your case, Charizard is going to burn somebody alive…"

Red looked defeated. "Yeah, the hardest thing for me about training my Pokémon is their attitudes."

"I'm also there with you," Chris said. "Ever since some of them evolved, they haven't been the same. Snivy told me that, apparently, Pokémon get an Ego Boost when they evolve."

"An Ego Boost?"

"Something about getting even stronger in a blink of an eye that twists their minds into believing they're superior to weaker Pokémon," Chris explained. "…That's the reason why she's been holding her evolution back. She fears that she won't be the same. I think I remember her saying something about a best friend she once had that then evolved and…got a very radical change to their personality that they weren't the same anymore. They had a fight and…the feud got so bad that she had to ask her parents to subdue that Pokémon and ban them from ever getting near her."

"Wow, that's deep…" Red muttered.

"And, you know, she has a point," the teen said, looking worried. "Oshawott is so excited about evolving soon, but I don't want to think about how he'll turn out. If I'm lucky, he'll be the same old Oshawott… If I'm unlucky, he'll get a personality change like Mightyena did. Remember?" he asked. "When he was a Poochyena, he used to run away from a lot of people. And then when he evolved…he became extremely snarky and intimidating."

Red stared at Tepig. "Will you get an Ego Boost, too?" he wondered. "You're pretty good right now."

"Oink," Tepig simply said, unsure about the whole thing.

Chris's look darkened. "Then we have the Pokémon Trainers," he said. "This is just simply an assumption, but… I'd hate to meet a trainer who gets an Ego Boost of their own once their Pokémon evolve. We've seen a time too many how people become twisted when they get powerful…"

Red nodded. "I'm surprised how much can change in a second just by one simple evolution," he said.

The next moment, Chris grumbled. "Yes, and sometimes, they don't get an Ego Boost at all, like Arcanine's case," he said, looking peeved. "Except I was aiming to make him behave…Well, YOU made him evolve too soon before I could teach him some manners! Now it's so hard to train him that I need Lucario to stop the big dog from running after a truck when I put a leash on him!"

"Geez, don't rub salt on my wound…" Red said, hanging his head down. Tepig laughed at his misery.

"I will make sure you never live it down until Arcanine behaves."

"Aww!" Red groaned.

They heard the glass doors behind their seats open up, and Cress walked into the building while holding a Poké Ball, most likely Panpour's. He went to the counter to speak with the foreign Nurse Joy to have Panpour healed up. Nodding to him, Nurse Joy and her dutiful Audino walked away into the hallway to the left. Once they left, Cress never noticed their presence as he sat down on a nearby phone to call somebody. "Hey, that's Cress," Chris whispered.

"He's just here to have them heal his Panpour," Red said. Instead of looking away from the Gym Leader, they saw Cress dialing a number. Since this was the Pokémon world, people had the benefit of having phones that were capable of displaying video conferences through a screen next to them.

The screen booted to life in front of the concerned Cress. Through the screen, he saw someone else who dressed exactly like him, except for a stylish-looking green bowtie. He had short green hair with the top sporting a short, grass-like pattern. His eyes looked like they lacked the white area. "Hi there, Cress!" he said with a bright smile before realizing his brother wasn't looking so good. "Hmm? Why are you looking a bit gloom?"

"Hi, Cilan," Cress said. "I wanted to call you to see how you were doing."

Cilan blinked. "Well, everything's okay on my end," he said. "We're in Nimbasa Town at the moment, participating in a succulent Don Tournament full of magnificent battles! I wish you could see all the action and drama!"

"Oh, that's nice to hear," Cress said, forcing a smile. "But that's not the reason why I called you." Cilan's smile turned blank. "You see…Chili ran away from the Gym."

"What?" Cilan said. "Chili ran away? Why would he do that?"

Cress grimaced. "Today, he approached me to ask why he was having such a bad losing streak all of a sudden," he said. "I told him that he and his Pansear focused entirely on offense without using defense in the latest battles he had. Also, he said that it looks like Gym Leaders are just there to lose battles to trainers, saying our job is to lose to them."

From the table, Chris looked guilty. "Oh man, I never thought a Gym Leader would take it so badly…"

"Chris, if I recall, you had a similar situation with Maylene," Red pointed out.

"Oh…you're right."

Cress continued talking. "Of course I said that wasn't the point. From there, things spiraled out of control. He literally turned red with anger and stormed off, saying that he was going to go train…somewhere I don't know."

Cilan frowned after hearing the news. "That Chili always had an explosive personality," he said. "Sometimes I regret not starting my journey as a Pokémon Connoisseur to be there to help."

"Oh!" Cress said. "No, no, no! It's okay! I'm sure Chili will be quite alright by himself! He's got Pansear, at least."

"What should we do, though?" Cilan asked. "This recipe might not turn out good and delectable."

Cress thought for a moment. "Should I go after him and close down the Gym for a while?" he wondered. "We can do this if there's something that needs to be taken care of…"

Cilan smiled. "If you can get to Chili fast, I'm sure you'll manage to work things out," he said. "But as for closing down the Gym…"

"…What a pickle this is," the Water-type Gym Leader said. "That would also put our little restaurant in jeopardy."

Suddenly, the two trainers at the table looked at each other. "Hey," Red began, "I remember that the entrance of the Gym was a restaurant, and Cress himself is a cook…"

"Are we seriously thinking about…" Chris looked back at Cress, "…asking Cress to come with us in our journey? He wants to go find Chili, though…"

"But Chris…he's a Gym Leader!" Red whispered. "Gym Leaders are some of the hardcore badasses who have a lot of reputation at their jobs! Cress is just the person we need to have by our side until we finish our journey." The teen looked unsure. "C'mon, Chris! Don't you think this is pretty convenient?"

"Y-yes, but…"

Red stood up and went over to Cress's side. Gasping, Chris picked Tepig from the table and clutched him with both arms. As Cress looked up at the ceiling with a confused look, he overheard footsteps coming his way. Blinking and raising an eyebrow, he turned to Red. Cilan also blinked and stared at the newcomer. "Hmm? Oh, it's you, Red. Still in Striaton City, I presume."

"Red?" Cilan said.

Cress smiled at Cilan. "He was my latest challenger," he said. "He used a strong Kanto Pokémon to defeat me in less than twenty seconds! Nobody has ever beaten one of us that fast!" Red looked embarrassed at the remark. "In fact, he's the Kanto League Champion! No wonder why I didn't stand a chance!"

"Really now? How amazing!" Cilan exclaimed. "Wait, the Kanto League Champion? A strong, professional foreigner! How remarkable!" His eyes were glittering with glee.

Cress nodded and turned to Red and Chris. "How may I help you?" he asked.

"Look…" Red trailed off. "The two of us overheard you talking about Chili."

The Gym Leader sighed. "Yes, I guess it's become public knowledge about what happened at the Gym entrance," he said. "Our admirers cried their hearts out when they learned Chili was gone."

"(Oh, wow,)" Chris thought with a bored look. "(These guys like to be dramatic about those fangirls…)"

"So…me and Chris got to talking…" Red said, even if Chris didn't agree much about his idea, "and we were wondering if you would like to come with us in our journey to the Unova League."

Cress stared at Red for a long while after hearing the offer. "Come with you in your journey?" he said. He looked back at an impressed Cilan. "Heard that, Cilan?"

Cilan rubbed his chin. "Yes," he said. "This is a surprise ingredient, indeed."

"Indeed," Cress agreed, turning back to Red. "Really, asking me to come along? I know my two brothers are on their personal journeys to become better people. I, myself, don't think I need a journey of my own…"

"Why don't you give it a try?" Cilan asked, looking positive. "Perhaps it was destiny at work trying to cook up a good meal for you to evaluate, Cress."

"…" Cress chuckled. "Just maybe, there is something I could learn out of this opportunity… But my only goal is to find Chili and help him out… Yes, that's it, then!" he said nodding. "It's a done deal, Red."

As Chris looked defeated, Red's jaw dropped. "For real?" he asked.

"Sure!" the Gym Leader said. "I'll be delighted to go out on a journey to find Chili and guide him back… Apart from complaining about his losing streak, he also said we were no longer brothers anymore."

Cilan gasped. "That's all the more reason to find him!" he said. "I would like to help him out, but it looks like you two need to amend things together without my intervention."

Cress stared at Cilan. "If you happen to stumble upon Chili, though, try to help him," he said.

Cilan nodded and waved a hand. "I'll try to stay in contact with you," the connoisseur said. "If something happens on your end, try contacting me, too. It worries me what Chili might do out there…" He looked away for a moment. "Oh, the semi-finals are coming up! I need to leave now. Bye!" The transmission ended right after Cilan hung up.

Cress stared at the black screen and his reflection on it. After smiling to himself, he stood up and turned to the two trainers. "I know we just met today," Cress said. "It just seems so sudden that I'm getting dragged around Unova to find Chili."

"We're worried that the two of us won't make it to the league," Red said. "Sure, we have a lot of Pokémon, but we kind of need someone who can cook…"

"Cook, you say?" Cress asked. "Oh, I see where this is going now. You want me to cook for you."

Red looked guilty, but Chris looked even guiltier. "Y-yeah…" Red sheepishly said.

"…Haha," Cress laughed for a bit. "There's no need to look ashamed! In fact, I'm very used to see people asking me to be their cooks for parties and the like. No one has asked me to travel around while doing cooking, though. This is a first for me."

"Oh…" the two trainers said.

Cress showed his palm to them. "I, Cress, shall gladly accompany you in your journey," he said. "At least until I find Chili, anyway."

**Cress joined your team!**

The Gym Leader blinked and looked around, pulling back his palm. "Maybe it's just me, but I think I heard something…" he muttered.

"You get used to it," Chris said, shrugging. Cress merely looked confused at them as Red chuckled nervously.

"So, anyway…" Cress began, "I need to wait for Panpour to recover. Mind if you wait with me?"

"We also have our Pokémon getting checked," Red said. "We don't mind."

"Good! In the meantime, tell me about yourself," Cress said with a smile. "I wish to learn more about my traveling companions."

The newly-formed trio sat down on the table and started talking. During their talk, Red pointed out that Chris was a Sinnoh League Champion. The teen then added that he was accompanying Red to cheer him on, not wanting to participate in the league himself. As Cress told them about his job as a Gym Leader and how his fellow brother Cilan was a Pokémon Connoisseur, Nurse Joy came back with the large group of Pokémon and Cress's Panpour. The Pokémon noticed the Gym Leader right away, and he waved at them.

"Hello!" Cress said. "You've seen me before, and you're going to get used to seeing me every day from this point on. I shall be your humble cook." The Pokémon blinked in surprise and turned to their trainers, who nodded at them. Then, Cress took out Panpour from his Poké Ball, the water monkey landing on the table next to Tepig. "Panpour, we're going on a journey with our new friends."

"Yay!" exclaimed Panpour in his language.

Cress chuckled. "Panpour is happy to hear the news!" he told the two trainers. "I see that you have a lot of Pokémon that don't belong to Unova. I truly believe this journey shall be a very fulfilling one."

The Gym Leader seemed to be a perfect person to trust. Exchanging glances, Red and Chris turned to the cook. "Um, Cress," Chris began, "there's something that you need to know before you start traveling with us."

"Huh? What could that be?" Cress asked, completely oblivious. "Hmm?"

Looking over at their Pokémon, the two trainers nodded to them. Luxray stepped next to Cress. The two looked at each other. "Hello. I'm Luxray. Nice to meet you," Luxray said, offering a paw to shake.

The Gym Leader shook Luxray's paw. "Why, the pleasure is all mine," Cress said with a smile. It took him a few seconds to digest he just heard a Pokémon greeting him in English. Shaking his head, he looked utterly shocked, and so did Panpour judging his jaw dropped. "What in the… Did he just…talk?"

"Yes, he did," Oshawott spoke, sounding proud. Cress jerked his head around to look at the otter.

"T-that Oshawott also spoke just now!" Cress said.

"We ALL can talk your language!" said Pichu on top of Charizard's head. Cress's jaw dropped as the Pokémon nodded in agreement.

Blinking several times at the development, Cress slowly looked back at Red and Chris. The two looked nervous. "Yes… That's the something we wanted to tell you," Red said. "…Our Pokémon can talk."

"I…I don't believe it!" Cress said as he picked Snivy from the floor. She said a simple hi. "I-I never thought Pokémon could even talk!"

Chris looked embarrassed. "We taught them all how to talk," he said. "One day, we were wondering if they could be trained to do that…and then, everything developed from there, much to our surprise…"

"A-amazing!" Cress said, utterly amazed as he set Snivy down. "Pokémon can really be taught how to talk? I-I never thought it'd be possible to achieve such a thing…" He looked at Panpour. "…Does that mean it's entirely possible to teach my Panpour how to talk like I do?"

"In theory, yes," Chris said. "No Pokémon we have just talk with their language anymore. They're all…bilingual."

Cress slowly shook his head, a growing smile forming on his lips. "It's so amazing!" he said. "To think my Panpour can even learn how to talk… This development has to be shared with the public to strengthen the bond between Pokémon and trainer!"

At this suggestion, Red and Chris gasped. "No!" Red said, shocking Cress. "Cress, the reason why we even told you this is because we don't want you to be some sort of lock for them to talk in secret behind your back!"

"W-why?" Cress asked. "Surely, people would appreciate…"

"I-it's a very nice idea, but it's not a good one when we're involved," Chris said. "We want to avoid so much attention from other people during this journey. Just imagine what would happen to us if we told everyone in Unova that we know how to teach Pokémon the ability to speak!"

"People would follow us around everywhere at every turn without rest…" Luxray said. For a moment, Cress had forgotten he could talk. "That's annoying. We want you to keep it a secret."

Cress considered the problem they told him. "I…I see how it is…" he muttered. "I guess that could be a problem you wouldn't want to face if you want to do a safe journey…"

Red forced a smile as he looked at Panpour. "We can definitely teach your Panpour how to talk, though," he said. "If that makes you feel better…"

The Gym Leader and the water monkey stared at one another. "…If Panpour could learn how to talk… Oh my goodness, it would definitely make me so happy just thinking about it!" Cress said, extremely delighted. Panpour tossed his arms up with glee. "Alright, I shall keep it a secret, as long as you teach Panpour." He made a happy expression. "Cilan and Chili are going to be missing a lot, that's for sure!"

The trainers chuckled along with their Pokémon. Their journey became much livelier with Cress and Panpour tagging along for the ride…

Striaton Hotel

"Those fangirls of yours are…creepy," Chris said.

"I know they tend to act a little bit too much out of hand," Cress said as he lied down on his bed. "Bear it with me, please."

"I could've sworn they shot glares at the two of us as you closed the Gym's doors…" Red muttered.

The day went by as Cress became familiar with the group. After having eaten at Cress's Gym with a succulent meal that none of the Pokémon would ever forget, the growing group decided to stay at the local, most expensive hotel in Striaton City for the night before moving to Route 3, which was an even longer route compared to the first two. The hotel in question didn't look any different than the last one they were since it was the same hotel branch. The only difference was the third bed for Cress.

"That Sitrus Parfait Special…" Jigglypuff sniffed, lying down still on Cress's bed. "It was lovely…"

"I, myself, enjoyed the Pinap Salad," Snivy commented, sighing with pleasure as she lied on Chris's lap. "I was brought to heaven for a second…"

Cress was thankful to hear the pleased Pokémon remark his food. "And I know a whole lot more for you to try in the next days to come," he said. "I'm so excited to hear my pleased talking Pokémon talk about my cooking skills! I'm even more excited to see that Panpour will be able to talk!" His Panpour was lying down next to him, looking excited.

"Hey, berry boy!" Charizard, sitting next to Red's bed, called out to Lucario, who was lying down next to Chris. "You want to eat berries now?"

Lucario looked flustered. "N-no," he said. "I'm still going to eat berries from time to time."

Cress chuckled. "I can make miracles with simple berries," he said. The Aura Pokémon stared at him, looking curious. Charizard snickered in victory. He suddenly looked preoccupied as he turned his gaze outside. "…I hope Chili is doing okay out there… I wanted to follow after him when I finished the Gym Battle, but…"

Lucario closed his eyes. "Chili is within thirty miles away from here," he said.

Cress incredulously looked at Lucario. "W-what?" he asked. "How can you…"

"I can use my aura to sense other auras within a hundred miles," the Aura Pokémon said. "Chili is not so far away from the city. In fact…I can use his mind and eyes to tell me that he's currently resting in the forest with his Pansear. His mind is a hurricane of nasty thoughts about how weak he is…or so he thinks."

"I…I can't…" Cress frowned. "…Seriously? You can really do that?"

Chris was proud, looking up from his computer. "Lucario can do so many things with his incredible aura, Cress," he said. Lucario pulled his trainer under his arm in affection. "He's the perfect sentry Pokémon for this kind of things."

Wanting to hear more praises from Chris, Lucario told Cress, "If you want, I can show you what's going on with him. I can connect other people to see what I can see from this spot."

Cress smiled. "I-I'll hold you on that offer," he said. "Do that aura thing tomorrow, please! I want to rest for the night." Lucario nodded, and Chris chuckled heartily at him.

Yawning, Red took out his journal as the Pokémon started to fall asleep. It was journal time, so Chris changed his project page for his third diary entry. Cress saw the two and asked, "You have diaries? What a coincidence." He chuckled and took out a journal of his own, along with a pen. "I like writing eventful days in my own diary, too. This page is going to be very special."

_Diary Entry #3_

_We reached Striaton City in time for Red to challenge Cress for his first badge. After an easy win, Red got his first Unova badge. Seeing him now makes me think that I should probably take on the league… Nah, I'm busy with my own stuff._

_But the most important thing that happened today was Cress himself joining us for our journey! I'm so happy that we found a kindred spirit in Unova. Oh, the food he made! It was…marvelous! I simply wanted to die when I took a spoonful of the Striaton Meat Stew he prepared! Better yet, we're eating his stuff from now on! Things are starting off nicely!_

_However, Cress wants to go after Chili, his triplet sibling and Gym Leader, after Chili had an argument about how Gym Leaders are supposed to lose to trainers… I remember how something similar happened to Maylene, the Sinnoh Gym Leader from Veilstone City. Her story was sadder since her own Lucario was one of those proud warrior types that absolutely hated to lose so many times… Hmm… I wonder how she's doing…_

_Tomorrow, I think we're going to find Chili. I hope Cress and his excellent cooking stick with us for the long run…_

From Chris, the focus went over to Red.

_Diary,_

_Today, we reached Striaton City, and I got my first Unova badge (after a very anti-climatic battle, but who cares about the little details)! Better yet, the very same Gym Leader, Cress, decided to join us after I came up with the idea of helping him resolve his issues with his brother Chili, the other Gym Leader that ran away because he didn't like being weak… Gym Leaders have it rough. I'd feel pissed if I had a long losing streak without improving at all, so I understand his feelings._

_Now, though, Cress knows our secret about our talking Pokémon, but he seems like such a nice guy. He promised that he wasn't going to tell anybody about it as long as we taught his Panpour how to talk. That reminds me that I need to teach Tepig how to talk, too._

_Cress is such a good cook! He treated us at his restaurant with some of the most delicious food I'll never forget in my entire life. I wished his legion of fangirls didn't hiss at us whenever he looked away…_

_Ugh, the next Gym is in Nacrene City. I hate Normal-type Gym Leaders… They give me so many nightmares… Well, with Cress on our side, the nightmares should appear less…right?_

From Red, the focus went over to Cress.

_Dear Diary,_

_I know I haven't written too much in a long while. There haven't been any eventful events as of late…until today, that is._

_Firstly, my fellow brother Chili stormed off after he talked to me about his losing streak. I shouldn't have told him that he needed to focus on his defense more than his offense. That practically made him erupt with anger, so far as to say we were no longer brothers anymore. That hurt my heart a bit since I knew Chili didn't mean to say that. So, in the end, Chili stormed off to who-knows-where…_

_That's not bad, though! Secondly, I met these two trainers – Red and Chris – who came from the Kanto and Sinnoh regions respectively. Judging their Pokémon, I could tell they were strong trainers. Both of them are champions! They offered their help to find Chili with me. At first, I was worried that I was dragging them into my issues, but then they insisted for me to come with them on their journey. Both Cilan and Chili were on their journeys now…so why not me? I thought it was going to be a little dull because, other than finding Chili, I had no motivation like my brothers…when suddenly, the Luxray spoke to me! These two trainers had a secret: their Pokémon were able to talk in our language! Imagine the look on my face when I realized that! My Panpour can truly learn how to talk as well. I can hardly wait for the day he starts greeting me every morning! The world is a nice place…_

_Thirdly, I was intrigued to learn that Chris's Lucario could tell me Chili's location from his spot. I was at a loss of words for a moment. This imposing-looking Pokémon used some aura ability to tell me that. Tomorrow, he's going to show me himself where Chili is! These people are truly special…_

_Now, I wonder if I'll continue the journey with them. If we're fast enough, we can probably catch up with Chili tomorrow. Reaching him would fulfill my goal, unless he was to storm off again, which I don't doubt he'll do right off the bat…_

If anyone else could see the last lines he wrote down, they would get shocked.

_Cilan, since you are traveling with Ash and Iris, I'm going to see for myself the thrills of a true journey once more. Something tells me that I'm going to be busy for a long time now… See you three at the league, maybe! Red shows a lot of promise like Ash!_

…_Now that I think about it, Red and Ash look…the same to me for some reason… I must be hallucinating. Oh well! Best wishes to my journey with Panpour and the others!_

The lights of the room turned off, and the three trainers and their Pokémon fell asleep. Tomorrow, it was going to be another eventful day…

**TO BE CONTINUED…**

* * *

_Just to let you know, Cress won't tell the group about Ash just yet. It's going to be some time before they learn the shocking truth, and Pikachu is going to have a heart attack for sure._

_Also, for those of you who have seen the full picture of the story's cover page, you should've noticed that there's a fourth party member besides the three… Well, let's just say the fourth member will appear soon enough at a later date._

_I encourage all Cress fan(girls) to review._


End file.
